A Search for Honor
by Temunjin
Summary: A book about a young Mongolian seeking to avenge his tribe's death by joining the ranks of Genghis Khan's Horde.
1. Chapter 1: A Beginning and an End

**Chapter 1**

An End and a Beginning

I was born without a name. A name can define a person who they are, what they are like, how they will react to certain situations. My search throughout all my life had two purposes: to make a name for myself and to avenge my kin.

My quest began at the age of six when my family was slaughtered. I had once belonged to the now deceased Arula tribe; Jelmi Sengun had been my father and the khan of my tribe. I have wished to avenge my father's tribe ever since.

I do not remember much else about my life before the incident. I was born in early spring, right after one of the coldest winters my ancestors ever had, and even though it was spring the temperature had not varied much. When the midwife threw the horse bones to see my fate it was told that my life would be as cold as the winter. My mother and father scoffed at this saying that she was mistaken. I grew up well cared for as any Mongol child though treated rough enough to grow up tough.

My father was strong-willed in spirit and guided his tribe strongly with the dedication with which he cared for his family. He knew how to be harsh when he had to be and would discipline my brothers and I severely when we disobeyed him or were caught fighting.

It was an early June morning when it happened; I had just woken and was still a little groggy from sleep. With the sun just starting to creep over the horizon people were still getting up in their yurts and starting to do their tasks.

The place that we camped was not too far from a stream from which we got our water. I got down to wash my face when a cloud of dust off to the south caught my attention. A moment later two blows from a scout's horn blew to alert the warriors, a third would mean the incoming party was hostile.

The few warriors that were present made their way to the south side. It was most likely to be my father returning from his mission but one could never be too cautious. Four days prior to this my father had taken most of the men of our tribe to raid another tribe, the Oronar, which had stolen several heads of cattle and Mustang ponies. They were due the previous night but one more night was not enough to cause worry.

As the riders came into view amongst the dust it was apparent that they were not from the Arula tribe nor were they Oronar. They were Chinese. The third horn blew but it was too late the riders had notched arrows in their bows and shot a volley that rained down upon the village as the horn blew. Most of the warriors were cut down within the first two volleys and those that were left fell to the horsemen.

As soon as the first two horns had been blown my mother came out of our yurt and started to look for me. When she found me the Chinese were almost to the village. She hid me in some bulrushes by the water's edge and told me to stay there. After that she left me and ran back to the yurt, I did not see her leave but rather a passing rider set the tent ablaze. I waited, watching as the riders mercilessly killed all of my tribesmen; without any warriors left to protect them, the women and children could only run.

I could hear the cries and screams of the slaughter. After the sounds reached their apex, I could not stand it any longer; I was the son of a khan, I had to do something. I ran into the open towards the man that I took to be the leader by the banner that he carried and grabbed a metal poker from a fireplace. I got within a few meters from him when I was spotted. The sight of a small boy running with a poker must had amused him at first for he did nothing to me except call to his friends and point at me- then I buried the tip of the poker into his ankle. He yelled with pain but quickly recovered and turned the horse around to get an angle from which to strike at me. I backed up a bit to avoid the horse but did not see the sword, the sharp blade cut a deep slash in my face in reaction to the wound I staggered backwards and tripped on a corpse, I hit my head against a rock and went unconscious.

When I woke, the rides had long since left and it was nearing midday. That which remained of the yurts was still burning and the birds already had started to clean the carcasses. The only trace that the Chinese left was the banner, the one the man I charged carried, that had been stuck in the ground. As soon as I got my bearings, I felt a sharp pain on my face. I painfully felt a gash traveled from the center of my forehead down at an angle over my left eye till it reached the left end of my jawbone. By sheer luck there was no damage done to my eye and the only permanent damage was that the scar never faded.

I got up and walked through the village towards my father's yurt, or at least what remained of it. Only because of how long we had spent at that location could I differentiate one pile of ashes from another. I shifted through the remains of the yurt pulling things that though they did not burn offered no value after being exposed to the fire. Tears mingled with the blood that still dripped from the gash on my face and fell on the dry ground. My feet dragged as I searched I hit something soft. It took only a short moment for me to realize what it was; the smell of burning flesh is unmistakable, especially when up close. Still in shock I tried to wake my mother by pushing against her, the flesh had been badly burnt and parts scraped off under my touch, it was enough to make me stop. But before leaving I saw a small glint of metal underneath my mother's corpse; a sword, my father's sword. Whenever he would leave the village he left the sword there as an assurance that he would return, this was the first time that it failed.

I was soon to find out that I was not the only survivor of the attack, Kasar, one of my father's bondsmen had been out checking his marmot traps, on the other side of a nearby hill. He heard the cries and stayed hidden on top of the hill. After the raiders left, he came down to see if there were any survivors.

"I thought that you were all dead. It appears that the son Jelmi Sengun is as resistant as his father." He held my head up while looking at my newly acquired scar, being one of the elders he knew much about curing injuries and such. "Let me see that, it looks like you got a souvenir there."

For the next nine years I found myself several times wishing that the riders had killed me and not left me lying there, then I would not have to endure the torture of having no family left in the world, alone with nobody or nothing save that sword, my father's sword. The same sword with which he had entrusted to me to protect the tribe when he left and the same sword has always been strapped to my back since.

During that time, Kasar taught me all I know about survival techniques, fighting, and the use of the bow and of the sword. We stayed there in the village, or at least what had not been burned down, living off what we could catch or find. All of the survival techniques I know I learned for him.

"What do I have to live for?" I asked him one day.

"You have your family to avenge. And if you do not achieve this, you have no honor. He said firmly grasping my shoulders."

Those words changed my life forever and gave me a new purpose in life. I lived by my father's sword and swore that by it would be the means by which the men who raided my village would die. I marked the insignia, with help from Kasar, shown on the red banner by engraving it into the skin of my left arm, though I knew not what it meant. I assured myself that should I see them again I would recognize them and obtain my revenge.

During that time, I forgot my name. Not by any accident or by the knock on my head, rather I did so purposely. Kasar made me forget my name so that I would have no honor till I had obtained my revenge.

"A man without a name cannot have any honor," he said one night over a fire "When you have obtained your revenge return here and I will tell you what it is."

One bright spring day, just after the snows of my fifteenth winter had melted, I decided to leave the steppes. For all it held were bad memories and scaring thoughts of the relatives long dead. Kasar told me that it would be best to head south towards China.

It was all I had, I had no reason for going in any other direction, for what would I do except wander, survive, maybe find a wife in another tribe- a wife with whom I could start a family. Family, the relation I most desired while also being the hardest thing for me to achieve. I could not settle down and have a family, at least not until my enemies had none themselves, until their remains were forgotten on a battlefield. Till they lay on the ground and crows picked at their decaying flesh. Then my family would be avenged, than I would rest.

The next few months were spent, for the most part, wandering the steppes. I did the best that I could to avoid any other tribes least they take me for an intruder and kill me; upon leaving Kasar I joined the lowest class amongst the Mongolians: the drifters. Drifters where people who had been banished from their tribe or, like myself, was the only survivor of a tribe that had been attacked. Most drifters were just trying to survive, but every now and then one would be hostile or try to rob a village. The vast planes that seemed to stretch forever eventually gave way to marshlands then in turn to forests.

After a few months of wandering along the steppes, the vast deserted planes that seemed to stretch forever eventually gave way to marshlands then in turn to forests. In the steppes there were very few types of animals that could be found: wolves, marmots, dogs, and birds of prey formed the majority of the food chain. But here in the woodlands there were a vast assortment of creatures, most of which I had only heard about. The plants were different as well, in the steppes trees could only be found in groups some two kilometers thick, but with very little variety. The forest however yielded fruit in almost every bush.

But this was not the extent of my discoveries, on the seventh month of my wanderings I came upon what I could only describe as a rock wall. It seemed to stretch on indefinitely in either direction and had to be at least ten meter tall if not more. Since I could no longer go south I decided to head east.

The next several hours were spent walking along the Wall, I was wondering if I would encounter any sign of life or a way to cross over the Wall otherwise than climbing it. All of a sudden, I almost walked into what seemed a camp of a band of merchants. By the clothes that they wore, I could tell they were not Mongols but Chinese. I hid in the bushes nearby, not knowing if I should trust them or not.

I lay there till dark not making a noise. After some time I realized that one of them had left without my noticing. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and struck; I tried to fight back but was stuck again. I was too limp to lift up my arms the man dragged me into the light of the firelight. I passed out after that.

When I woke up my head was aching. I slowly opened my eyes to give the impression that I remained asleep. One of the Chinese men motioned towards me. Either I was a horrible faker or he had been watching me for any signs of movement. Since I could not continue my ruse, I decided to have a look around. I found that one of my legs had been chained to a group of young Mongols about the same age as me. The chains kept going until they reached a covered wagon loaded over with coats, furs and treasures. A few feet away a small campfire was burning with three people around it. The man closest to me was holding in his hands my father's sword!

"Get your hands off my father's sword you Chinese filth! I yelled in rage. How dare he dare even touch that sword?" The man responded in what I took to be Chinese. It had not occurred to me till then that maybe they did not speak Mongolian.

As I was still looking when around another man came out of the shrubs near me carrying a bow, arrows and the evening's catch. I shot out my free leg and struck the man's shin, causing him to fall in pain. I quickly picked up the fallen weapons and aimed it at the closest of the three remaining men.

"Give me the sword," I figured they did not understand me so I motioned them to do my bidding, "Give me the sword and the keys for the chains now!" Stupid Chinese, thinking that they could imprison me that easily and take my father's sword. When I managed to escape I would teach them to think twice before trying to capture me again. They did nothing but sit there looking at me, this started to get annoying. They were just sitting there as if they thought that I would not shoot them. I was about to, "This is your last chance." Suddenly a fifth man came from behind me, he struck me sharply from behind. The last thing I remember was the ground growing closer and closer till we joined.

I woke with the sharp pain in my head doubled since when I woke the first time. The Chinese man who I had assaulted came over and kicked me hard in the stomach, increasing my pain to the lower portion of my body. After he joined his companions by the fireside, the oldest of the youth chained with me crawled over towards me.

"That was a brave move, my brother," he commented to me, "too bad two others and me have already tried it before. I almost got as far as you did but did not have the courage to do it, that's when the guard struck me." I ignored him at first; I focused my attention instead on the fact that my legs and arms had been tied separately.

"First," I replied, choosing my words with care so to not offend him, "I am not your brother and I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

"Fine," he replied as if he were used to getting such a reply.

I looked over at the other boys and counted a total of seven other than the one who had spoken to me. I ventured a question after a while.

"Who are these men? Certainly not merchants?" I asked. I was getting curious. I figured that it was good to know the most I could about my captors.

"From the best I can gather," began the youth. "They are slave drivers but cover as merchants. I was the first of the eight of us to be captured."He went on to tell how he was on his first hunting trip alone on one of his father's prized horses. The slavers had attacked him from behind and dismounted him with their lassos. As he grew accustomed to the life of a slave, others joined him in his imprisonment. He explained that the slavers never strayed more than a few miles from the Wall (it was he who told me the name of it) and took kids from the nearby tribes trading goods and on the side selling Mongol children as slave to the Chinese on the other side of the Wall. As he told me his story, I wondered what it must be like, to have a family to care for him and now worry for him.

"One by one, when the others were caught I helped them stay alive, after some time they started to look to me as their leader. If what I think is right you were the last one of us that they could take, they did not even have chains for you so they used rope." he remarked with a sigh, "we will probably head back toward wherever they pass over the Wall tomorrow. Soon we will have no chance for any attempt to make an escape."

He joined the others, I started to pity for the sorry band that lay chained next to me. Many of them could not have been older than eight or nine years old. Taken away from their family at the same tender age as I had but probably without the skills for survival. I started to think back on that day, when everything I held dear was taken away in a few hours. Slowly I drifted into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: The Plan

**Chapter 2**

The Plan

My dreams were troubled. They always were but fortunately, it never kept me from sleeping. In the dream the horsemen were approaching, the man with the red banner leading the way, and my mother's maid taking me to safety. Sounds of women and children screaming, and everything in red. But that night, that night was different. As I looked in my dream, horses appeared on the horizon. At first they were my father and his men returning from their raid. As they approached, the men slowly seemed to twist and turn as if a supernatural force was bending them to its will. The shapes took the form of the Chinese raiders, attacking. The man with the red banner was approaching rapidly, somehow he gotten far ahead of the other the horsemen. Closing the distance, the rider raised his sword. Than to my horror he slashed me through. I screamed feeling pain beyond anything else that I had known before.

I woke with a sweat drenching my face and front. It was still dark and everyone else was asleep, including the guard. I lay back; for once I was afraid to go to sleep for fear of encountering the rider again. What had happened? For a moment I thought I was still dreaming for I could still feel the pain, I looked at my side to see a dagger buried in my skin. It must have fallen out of the guard's belt when I knocked him down the previous night. The wound was covered in blood, some of it still flowing slowly from the opening. I quietly woke the youth, only he could help me take it out.

"Boy, hey boy wake up, I need your help!" I sincerely hoped that he was not a deep sleeper. "Please wake up."

"What is it? He began to get up "My friend, the sun has not fully risen yet and we have still got a few hours of sleep left. Why do you wake me so early?"

I showed him my side, "This is why. Can you take it out?"

"Good heavens, I am sorry I do not know how to remove it." He looked scared and like he was about to vomit, obviously he was not used to seeing blood in large quantities.

"It's okay, I do. I will tell you what to do. But first you have to make sure you are completely calm. Are you calm?"

He waited a moment, "Yes I am. What do you want me to do?"

I slowly explained how to him how would remove it. Considering this was his first time, he did well. We had no way to stop the bleeding so I just curled up into a ball and thus applying pressure to it. After about a half an hour the bleeding slowed down, I searched the scene again to make sure that all the guards were asleep.

"Well my friend," He remarked while cleaning his hands on leaves "I realize that you do not want to talk but I will nonetheless. You owe me at least that much. My name is Jebei Bayan, only son of Nakhu Bayan." I recognized his father's name; he was a rich khan of a tribe that had been bringing sons to my father's village for ages. This boy could easily be a second cousin.

"Why are you telling me this? Do you think that I even care about who you are?" This kid was annoying. Could he not take a hint that I did not care about his background? Maybe I was being a little rude but it was not my fault that he had a family and I did not.

"I need your help to escape." He sounded hopeful, in other circumstances, I might find him amusing, but made him seem naive in this case. "I am sure that my family is looking for me right now, but it's always better to be sure."

"Come on. Do you really think that they are still looking for you? If they were, they would have found you by now, do not you think. Two years is a long time to be searching for someone, they probably stopped looking for you're a long time ago."

"That is not true." The tone in his voice was rising, "My family would never abandon me." I could tell that he truly believed that his father would come to his rescue.

"So how do you think of escaping?" I wondered how he planned to do it. The fool, I would bet anything that his plan would not be good enough to work. After all what did he know about surviving in the wilderness? He was raised by one of the wealthiest tribes of Mongolia plus he was not old enough to have much experience in the area of living off the land. He and his rag tag group of followers would die soon after winter started.

"This is my plan, I'm going to jump our guard and take his keys, free us and take back the horses."

Yes, I could not be more correct, he did not have the slightest idea on how to plan an escape or to survive in the wild.

"After that it would be smooth sailing from there, I'd just return to my village and these boys shall be made my brothers."

I let out a slight chuckle, fighting had to hold in the burst of laughing that was cooped up inside of me. "So that's your grand plan. I pray tell me how you plan on getting the keys from the guard and what do you plan on doing with the other slavers? Not to mention how do you plan to keep your band alive while you look for your village. I bet you do not even know which way your village or if they have not moved by this time, I have never heard of a tribe staying in one place so long. I am sure that you do not know anything about surviving in the wild without someone to take care of you," The kid was not stupid, just a little inexperienced, he did not have the knowledge and techniques to survive in the wilderness. "And what about winter? None of you are dressed properly for snow?"

"So let's hear your plan. If it is so great that you must mock mine." He smirked, I do not pretend to know what he thought of me but really I do not care a bit. Anyway, why should I? "I do not have one yet. But when I get one, you will be the first to hear it."

We dug a hole and shoved the leaves in it then refilled the hole with dirt. After Jebei fell asleep, I looked around for anything I might use as a weapon to use as a base in forming an escape plan, outside of the dagger. My eyes finally rested on my father's sword. One of the slavers had it tied to his belt, it would not have surprised me if they had fought over it and he, being the strongest, came out as the victor. Than something happened that proved my theory correct. One of the smaller men attacked the larger one wielding the sword. A fight broke out, the men were rolling on the ground punching, kicking, and yelling at each other in their own tongue, my best guess was that they were cursing heavily for with each new phase the other would add on a new volley of punches and kick. It did not last long. Another man who seemed to take the role as leader broke up the fight. The attacker had to withdraw his attempts and the stronger looked over at me as he sat down. We stared at each other till he turned back to whatever he was doing by the fire. How I wanted to take back my father's sword and kill him for touching it. If I would have known any curses at that time I would have directed them towards my captors, especially the big one. I wanted revenge!

Over the next months weeks I watched and observed what the slavers did. How they acted, what they did, when they fed us and such. They were cruel to us; it was mainly because we were mostly Mongols, except for one who was a Japanese kid that they picked up by the coast before me.

The largest slaver carried a whip which, on and off the road, was used to get our attention, go, or do what he willed. With autumn upon us, the weather got colder, though, they showed some notion of kindness by starting to give us a small campfire to keep us alive. The younger ones would huddle around it. I would usually sit a little away from the fire; I had endured worse weather up north. Besides, I liked to be alone. The wound in my side had not been treated; thank the sky father it was not getting infected. Nonetheless, it had left a nasty scar though and caused me constant pain when walking or sleeping on that side.

One night after the guard had lit the fire and the boys had gathered around it Jebei came over to talk to me. "Have you thought of a plan yet?" I had not talked to any of them in over two months. "You have had enough time to come up with a plan and I have watched you. Now let's hear it."

I hesitated for a moment, my plan was still just a theory but it could still work. "Okay," As he had said to me when we first met, I needed his help to escape. I wish I do not but it was useless to argue with the facts. " First thing you need to do is grab one of the burning logs and bring it here, but make sure none of the guards see you do it, you guys get in the way so that they cannot see." They did what I asked. "Now singe my ropes, not all the way, just till the point where I can snap them. Good, now tonight they will be drinking lots of black airag that they got at the last village, right. Well that means that tomorrow we will not be traveling and they will be either drunk or have a several hangover. So, in the morning when the guard comes to kindle the fire is when we will make our move. I will jump the guard while he is kneeling down and shove his face into the hot embers. While I am hold him there you get the keys from his belt and free the others and yourself. After they are free you and they can prepare horses and provisions while I handle the other slavers."

"And how are you going to do that?" His voice carried an air of disbelief.

"Do not worry about that, I know what to do." The truth was that I did not know what to do. I figured on improvising my plan as I went along. "Just make sure you and your friends do their part, we only have one shot and if it fails, say good-bye to all of you hopes of being reunited with your families."

The plan was not perfect, but then again, I only had a few weeks to plan it. The whole plan was known only to myself. I had not told Jebei what I planned on doing after they escaped. As far as he knew we would all return back to his village and become his adopted brothers. I was sure they would go and live happy lives. Not me though, I would continue my journey for revenge. I did not tell Jebei about it because how could he understand? He had a family to return to, he do not have to live his life in exile of any type of community till vengeance on his deceased family was complete. No, I would not tell him least not till after it was done, I would just drift off on my own the next morning and leave them. That is the way I liked it

"And what about your family," I was afraid he might ask that question "Where do you come from? I mean you never talk about your family, not as if you talk much at all. Are they rich poor? Please tell me."

I fixed him a glare that I hoped told him that the conversation would end here, "It does not matter." That is all I would ever tell him about my family. I thought to myself, why should I tell him? A part of me wanted to let it all out scream and rage for the loss of my family. I had to hold it in; it was my burden, at least till I have my revenge. I would be able to release part of that rage the next morning.

He returned to the other captives. They themselves looked like their own little family. They had a fatherly figure and several "children". All they were missing was a mother, that it seems would tie it all together. I looked away. The thought of my family sickening me. I guess that's what happens when one loses something as violently as I did, they grow to hate it

That night I had yet another dream. I had been dreaming a different one every night since I joined this group so unwillingly. In this dream, I was back in my father's tent. It was the night before that fateful day and this was the last time I had seen him alive. It appeared just as I remembered: the cots, fur coats hanging, weapon rack, and the wolf's hide that laid on the floor. On top of it lay my father's sword. Now he was giving me final instructions on protecting the village. I really do not think he intended on entrusting the full protection to me, there were plenty of able men left to ensure the safety of his tribe. I think he just wanted to make me feel important.

"Take it son," This was different, I do not remember him saying that before "Take my sword and prove to me that you are fit to use it." I took it, feeling the cold steel and the balance. "Now stand up, prove to me your manhood and make the sword your own."

"How can I do that my father? I know this sword only as yours. How do I make it my own when it belongs to you?" I felt that I would weep, here was my father, the man who taught me everything and he was asking for me to do something that I had no idea how to accomplish it.

"By avenging my death, my son, you will know how. By using my sword to avenge me it in turn will belong to you. I will be with you." As he left the tent, the scene slowly faded away into darkness. I was left standing there sword in hand, I was ready for revenge.


	3. Chapter 3: Freedom

**Chapter 3**

Freedom

When I woke the next morning I felt rejuvenated, as if something had possessed my body and given me new strength. I almost snapped the cords around my wrists and ankles while attempting to stretch. I looked around to see if everything was in place. The fire was dying, which would explain why the younger ones were huddled up together and shivering, nonetheless it was a good sign. Judging by the amount of light that shone through the trees, I guessed that the guard would be getting up soon. Jebei had just opened his eyes; he looked in my direction and nodded. I hoped that he and his bunch were ready, not that I expected them to do any fighting but their part, whoever small, was essential for the plan to work.

"Are you ready to do this?" I asked Jebei, one last time while the guard was approaching, "This is our only chance. If it fails you will never see your family again."

"I'm ready." That was his reply. It had taken him a while to wake the rest without giving anything away to the guard, but surly one by one they sat up patently and waited. The first thing any respectable father will teach his son is how not to show fear in front of an adversary, these kids were doing just that; but I could feel their fear. The guard's hangover seemed to be strong enough not to notice it however. The moment to jump was just as he got down on one knee, this way I would be using the momentum that he already had going downwards to aid me.

"NOW!" I yelled. The ropes broke easier than I had expected, so much so that I almost over balanced. I jumped onto the guard's back and shoved his face into the hot coals. His scream was partially muffled. I kept his face in the ashes, he trashed and grouped for something to fight back with but found nothing. Another boy had gotten the keys and started unlocking the other captives. Though I was able to stifle the majority of the scream, a burning face causes a lot of agony and the sound level was louder than anything I had ever heard. By this time Jebei grabbed a rock and brought it down upon the guards head, silencing him, but not before the other slavers had been aroused by the noise.

The tallest was the first out, however, he didn't use my father's sword; instead he held the whip. I had felt its sting far too many times and still have scars to this day from it. This was one factor that I hadn't anticipated and was pondering quickly on what to do. If only I had something to throw I could distract him and get to my father's sword.

"Hey catch." It was Jebei he was throwing a dagger my way. When I caught it I saw that it already had blood on it. This was the same dagger he had pulled out of my side, somehow he had hid it from the slavers over the past few months, now it would serve my purpose.

I threw it at the man's chest not knowing if would hit. Throwing was never one of my strong points plus it was not even meant for throwing. It did not matter though, it was only meant to be a distraction. While the dagger was still in flight I made my move. I ran towards the man and leapt to grab the sword. When I felt the cold metal of its hilt in my hand, I closed my fingers around it. As I was unsheathing it I came up out of the roll behind him. I turned around and in the same motion slashed the man's back. I kicked him to the ground and ran the blade through his neck, making sure he was dead.

Two down three to go. I spun towards the nearest man and started to attack him. Unprepared and drunk he didn't know what to do, he reached down the grab his sword but was too slow. The last thing he saw was a brief flash coming up across his face. He did half a spin backwards from the force of the hit and was dead before he landed, two left.

After the third man's body hit the dirt I rounded upon the next who had actually left the camp site to relieve himself, being farther away he had the time to drawn his sword. By the lousy way he held it I could tell that he, as the others, was still drunk, beating him would still be a challenge without the element of surprise. As he swung across I ducked and brought the sword upwards through his stomach but was not fast enough. He slid to the left to avoid the blade and tried a horizontal swipe again. This proved to be his down fall; as the blade passed over my head I ducked a second time. But instead of going straight up I angled the swing towards where he had moved the previous time. Due to his drunkenness he did not have to sense to do anything but the same and my blade met his heart.

Four down one left. The only one that I had not killed was the guard. I looked over to the fireplace but he had vanished, I was going to start scanning to campsite when I heard a chuckle behind me. I turned to see the guard, half of his face red and black and his left eye had been melted shut, against his right eye, however, he held a bow string taunt with a red feathered arrow fitted on the bow. I cursed inwardly for not taking him out; I raised my sword not to fight but to hope that by some odd stroke of luck he would hit it. Although the man was drunk, I had seen him fire when sober with deadly precision, I doubt he would miss this close.

Just before the archer let go over the arrow, a rock hit him on the side of the head. He swore as another two more hit him. I turned to see that Jebei along with his band had gathered several medium sized pebbles and was throwing them at the archer.

"Get back," I yelled. "Go, hide or you'll get yourself killed."

The fact was only half true. The archer took aim again, quicker this time and let it loose. I watched in horror as it sped towards the youngest of the group. I didn't look to see where it hit, I heard the sound of iron ripping through flesh and it was good enough for me. Before the archer could reload I was on him. My first slash at him cut his bow, than I dropped to the ground and delivered a slide kick, sending him sprawling on the floor. I jumped up and brought the sword across his head and down his chest. Down it went and back up it came. I continued doing it not seeing the man dead or alive but as Chinese. The race that I hated with all in me. I continued hacking at the corpse till Jebei stopped me.

"That's enough," he said calmly "he is dead. But come, you can save another life if you hurry." He ran towards the kid with me following. When I reached the youth I was alleviated, it was a shot through the left shoulder. The boy must have been ducking when he was shot because otherwise the arrow would have pierced his heart, not counting the fact that the archer was drunk.

"Don't worry kid," I told him "This will hurt a little but it won't kill you." I knew what to do with the wound but I had no idea on how to talk with the kid. "Jebei would you mind helping me, and you in the brown shirt go get some of the left over airag than come here and hold this cloth there when I tell you."

The procedure took a while but in the end the kid was fine, he even cried less than I thought he would. Jebei, one of the older boys and I cleaned up the bodies and pilled them in a heap outside the camp to be fed on by whichever animal or carrion happened upon them first. Afterwards while I sat by myself on a rock nearby, looking over at the sunset when I was joined by Jebei.

"I'm glad you helped. I don't think I would have been able to deal with things like that without you." He smiled. "When you first came, I thought you were a savage, well it turns out that I was right."

I looked at him questioningly, "Why do you say that?"

"You should have see how you fight. It's incredible though, extremely brutal. I think the reason Kachung did not cry was because he was still traumatized from the fight, he is still starring wide eyed at them. I am sorry that I was the cause for the boy's injury." He sounded as if he had caused someone to be cast into a wolf's den, which in a way he almost had. "I did not think the man could still fire after getting hit on the head and being drunk."

"The kid got lucky; it will be fine in a few weeks. But do not let him use that arm too much." The truth was that he was extremely lucky. The arrow had gone deep; almost enough to pass right through, but it had miraculously missed any blood vessel or organ. "I will leave all the horses and provisions for your uses. I do not need speed for where I am going and I can feed off the land. I always have so I am used to it, besides all that weight is unnecessary. Just make sure you are gone before noon tomorrow, the dead bodies will bring wolves." I did not know where I was going next but I certainly did not want the attention that a horse and rider brings, beside they needed them more than I did.

"Well I know there is no use trying to convince you to change your mind." He stood up and turned toward the camp. "I am sure I will not see you again, but I would appreciate if you would tell me your name."

"I have no name." As a final word of departure I decided to offer a blessing on my part "May the sky father watch over your trip home Jebei Bayan, son of Toya Bayan."

After Jebei left I went my own way. I left with no booty or food. I could live off the land as I always had. The only difference between before my capture and my present state was that now I had a sword, my sword, it no longer belonged to my father. I had earned the right to used it and now it belonged to me. I cleaned it off in the grass and then sheathed it. My journey could continue now and hopefully, but doubtfully, with no further interferences.

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For most Mongols at the age of fifteen, life is just starting to pick up; they start to partake more in the affairs of the warriors, have become skilled in whichever form of weaponry fit their liking and their father might even have chosen a bride for them. It was not a rare occurrence that a teenager of my age had already killed a man, but was still not common. But I was in that group. That autumn I crossed what is for many the threshold into manhood by killing those five men. When I tell of this account I explain that at that time my perspective of Chinese did not even register them as humans, not that they considered Mongols to be human for that matter, I hated their race so that I would have gone to the end of the earth to kill every single one. Along with that, when I was living by myself alone on the steppes, I matured a great deal faster than your everyday youth, so killing became a part of my life before I was old enough to grow a beard.

For the remainder of that autumn and winter I wandered around the forest, not wanting to leave the security of the woods till winter ended. Even at the beginning it was difficult to find vittles. Even thought the land was greener the vegetation did not give fruit forever. The mammals also became scarcer; only marmots and rabbits were even seen much less openly running around. One aspect that might have saved me that year was the lack of snowfall. Since it was a warmer climate here in the south the winter did not get as cold. Mind you it was still cold enough to cause me to build a makeshift shelter to keep from getting a fever or frostbite. The coats that I had taken from the slain Chinese were also a great asset to my survival.

By the time that it was warm enough for me to urinate without the liquid, I started moving again. By this time I had thought enough about my situation to realize that I was not going to be able to go through with my revenge without some help; if the Chinese were organized enough to build a structure of such proportions as the wall I doubt that I would be able to infiltrate anywhere without getting caught. That did not mean that I was going to give up, it just meant that I had to find another way to fulfill my oath.

I climbed the tallest tree around to try and get a good look at my surroundings and to determine which way to go next. The view was beautiful. The sun was just coming over the horizon and glinting off something in the east, its rays played shadows across the tree tops while the wind added to their movement. As I looked around I saw a trail of smoke rising from the east. That meant a village, due to my past experiences I did not want to end up a slave chained to another cart.

I decided that I was worth a look, after all where else would I go I had no exact direction but south towards the Wall and after my previous encounter I decided that it would be best to remain only far enough to see it. I judged the smoke to be at least half a day's journey away.

After a few hours jogging at a decent pace towards the camp I came upon a small stream. I stopped to get a drink of water and wash my face. As I looked at the far bank I noticed that the level of the water would soon rise significantly as the snows from the north melted and ran their course; judging by the different colors on the bank side I figured the stream could get to maybe two meters, a nice fact to remember should I ever come this way again. I crossed the stream and was about to continue to the other side when I smelt a pile of dung. I looked around hoping it might belong to a strayed goat. Oh that would be a good meal after a cold winter. When I did find the excrement I froze; it was too big to be goat or sheep and too small to be a pony. There were only two things left that it could belong to and neither was inviting: wolves or a tiger. Tigers were never found in the north but I had heard of tales from the south how one could rip through boiled leather armor with a single swipe. Wolves are not as imposing as a tiger, they do, however, hunt in packs, some up to twenty. If I was favored by the spirits there would be less than half a dozen.

The only thing I could do was to pray that they had not yet picked up my scent, the still breeze helped there, and to prevent them from doing so, cover myself in mud. I would also take off my coat to give me more freedom just in case the latter failed. So after caking myself with mud until I could no longer see and bronze skin and instead just a layer of brown goo, I drew my sword and continued my course ready to attack if they should come.

The attack was sooner than I had expected; wolves are natural hunters and were able to create an ambush that was almost perfect. Whether they planned it that way or it was pure coincidence, I had just stepped into a clearing when the first two growled and pounced. Split second reactions saved my life as I dropped to one knee and slashed at the nearest one; the strike was true and decapitated the wolf. The second however had come from a different angle and knocked me over and in an attempt to stop its teeth from sinking into my neck I dropped my sword. I could hear the others howling as the sensed their brother's predicament. I needed a quick way out that resulted in breaking the dog's jaw. My only choice now was either to find high ground or to hide; taking into consideration the efficiency of a canine's nose and the fact the mud coat seemed not to be working I chose the former.

After running for five minutes I started to hear more howling, I estimated that the pack numbered at least half a dozen strong. Than in response to the howling downstream I heard one closer to myself in the woods on my right, now I was in trouble; they were circling me. I thought of climbing a tree but that would only corner me. I had not eaten in a few hours and the wolves could keep me up there for as long as they wished to, I on the other hand had not eaten in about a day. The only thing left for me to do was retreat back to the stream due to its openness. There I could make a stand.


	4. Chapter 4: Wolf's Bane

**Chapter 4**

Wolf's Bane

The odds were against me, I do not think anyone would deny that fact. The pack of wolves was only a few minutes away and I was alone. I took out my bow; I had thirty-five arrows in the. I decided that the best idea was in fact to climb a tree. So I picked one across the stream with a good view of the area.

I was ready with an arrow in the bow by the time the first wolf appeared. As said my aim was far from perfect though my speed for pulling out an arrow was decent enough. The first fell with a shot to its side. It was followed by three others and then another one; I managed to get them all before they crossed the bank. Most were one shot kills but one I had to shoot twice. The remaining fifteen came all at once. I managed to pick off seven more before they were barking around the tree.

Things started to get troublesome when I realized that the tree was crumbling underneath me as the wolves scratched and pushed against it; the wood was old and dry from the lack of rain. Apparently it was not as secure as I thought it was. In a few moments the tree was going to give and I would be at the wolves' mercy. My only hope was to try and get some distance in between me and them. Meanwhile I was thinking I was able to hit three more before I had to throw the bow to the ground and make a jump for it. By the time I was ready to jump the trunk had broken and the tree was slowly falling; I waited till the last moment to leap onto the ground. I broke my momentum by rolling forward and ended in a crouched position.

I pivoted, sword in hand, to meet the first with a horizontal slash. The other four were set back a bit by the tree's collapse but were quick to recover. At first it seemed that they would all charge, and one did. It met its end as I thrust my sword down its throat. The last three slowly circled me, each about two meters from me. I eyed each one as they turned around; each returning the gaze with a fierce determination that I would become their next meal.

As coordinated as they could all three jumped at the same time; one behind and two in front. The result was that my arm stretched out at slashed the wolf to my left, at the same time my left foot swung backwards and hit the head of the wolf behind me. The last on hit me in my midriff knocking the sword out of my hand and landing me in the mud. Out of gut instinct I pulled in my legs and kicked out catching the wolf's chest and sending in flying.

This gave me an opening to make a mad dash for my sword. I almost reached it when I was pushed into the mud as the wolf jumped on my back and bit into my left shoulder and started to pull. I reached for my sword which was barely out of reach, as soon as I felt the metal I tightened my grip and swung it back and down on the wolf's neck. My hope was that it would be the sharp end but it was not so; however, the blunt end hit the wolf hard enough to weaken the canine's grip on my shoulder and gave me the opportunity to get away. He blow caused the wolf to falter before collapsing on the ground unconscious.

I looked around to see the scene around me; eighteen dead wolves and two live ones lay around me, trailing rivers of blood. I myself had a serious wound to the shoulder from the wolf's bite, I thought about extracting revenge upon the two remaining wolves; arm for an arm type idea. But I had no real bone to pick with them; after all they were just trying to get their next meal. I decided to leave the other two alive and unscathed.

Right now my priority was to get to that village, no matter whom the inhabitants may be. I needed to get my wound treated soon or it could get infected. For now all I could do was to tear my shirt and bind the wound to try and stop the blood flow, it would do for now. I scanned the skies for a sight of the smoke that I had seen earlier and much to my satisfaction it was still to the east south.

The last thing I had planned to do when I set off on this quest was to join a tribe for any amount of time. I was a warrior, one who killed others to stay alive; I would not feel comfortable if I stayed in one place for too long without any action or challenges. Besides I bet was a horrible sight, covered in mud and blood. But I had no choice; it was either that or risk dying.

When I reached the village I climbed a tree to get an overview of its layout. The village turned out to be fifteen yurts some larger than others including an extremely large yurt at the center of the village made out of thick logs and did not look like it was meant to be moved. Little kids ran back and forth playing, girls with dolls and the boys honing their skills with the bow and arrow with their mothers watchful eyes over them. I envied the children for that, they were a peaceful village and probably would not know of death till they were grown up and had kids of their own. In the distance to the south a cloud of dust was rising, I figured that it was the men of the village returning from a hunt or raiding party.

I started to descend from my vantage point, looking downward to check if there was anyone below me. Not seeing anyone I lowered myself from the tree and started to walk away from the village, behind me the warning horns blew to announce incoming riders. I really did not want to mess with their world; it would not be just to bring war to this peaceful village. I had not walked four meters when I heard yells and screams behind me. I unsheathed my sword and began to backtrack towards the village I was wounded in my left arm by my right still worked fine. As I came into the village the raiders were already there many had been killed from both sides. I counted seven men, three of which had dismounted. The one closest to me was about to kill a kid when I came at him. He looked up just in time to see my sword cleaved him through the middle. He fell limp over me. The second came at me charging, sword drawn. He swung sideways and I blocked it nearly falling backwards without the aid of my second arm, I threw my weight into a forceful shove and took my turn at attacking two strikes from above causing him to lower his sword, a trust in the stomach finished him off. The last dismounted man had been taken care of by one of the village warriors.

I looked over at the village's stables and saw that two of the horsemen were releasing the horses from their pen while the other was setting fire to the yurts. I ran towards the first two but the third horseman blocked me by waving his lance at me. I reached back for my bow and, when I felt nothing but air I remembered that I had not picked it back up at the stream alongside the wolf. Darn it, this was my second mistake of the day; first getting caught up with the wolves and now this, and could cost me my life. The raider stabbed at me a few times each of these I sidestepped and tried to charge him, but every time he would back up a little at the lance point was in my face. I did not have time for this, the raider was leading the horses out of the pen and the only warrior left was busy with the other horseman. I looked around and found a bucket filled with sand, I grabbed it and flung it at the rider. In mid air the bucket spun and dumped its contents all over the rider. While he was wiping the sand out of his eyes he could not lift his lance against me. I rushed him and chopped off his arm; in a gush of blood that followed I grabbed his lance and used it for his demise.

The horsemen had almost gotten the last of the horses out of the pen when I appeared in front of him, he turned his horse to strike at me but before he could raise his sword I ran his mount with the lance. The last horseman recovered after falling off and grabbed a spear that he carried at his side.

The following fight took longer than it should have, but given the state in which my arm was in I guess it can pass. Initially the two of us traded blows and parries neither able to pierce the other's defenses. At last my grip was starting to weaken and I was unable to properly block an attempt to my torso. I did divert it to my right leg and yelled in pain as the metal pierced skin and muscle. I dropped to my left knee and couldn't get up, the raider pulled out the spear and prepared to stab me when an arrow head suddenly grew out from his chest, the other rider had been killed by the village warrior and he came to my aid. As I lay, there one hand on my sword with the other clutching onto my leg, I finally got a good look at the rider's face he saw that he was not Chinese, rather he was Mongolian! Panicking over the fact that I had killed one of my kin and the pain in my leg, I faded out.

When I finally woke, it was dark. I looked around and saw that I was in one of the yurts. I tried to get up but someone's hand forced me down.

"Do not get up," a soft voice of a woman told me, "You have been seriously injured and need rest." I could not see her face.

"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked, wanting to know my situation.

"I am Shira, daughter of Taguarti Sorgan." She was wrapping something around my leg. "You are in one of my father's yurts." Great, indoors. Even though it was just a yurt not being outside made me feel like I was in a prison. That kind of thing happens to a person that, even though he was born inside, spent enough time outside that he finds it the most comfortable place possible.

"My father is the khan of this village, he will be glad to know that you are awake."

"How long was I asleep for?" I asked

"You have been asleep for a week. You have lost much blood and your leg is severely injured, not to mention your shoulder needs mending."I felt my shoulder to find it had been wrapped in a bandage, presumably the same type of material the girl was using the bandage my leg.

"Thank you for your kindness but I must be going, I can't stay." I was angry at myself, how come I had to help the village or even come and see the village in the beginning. All it brought me was trouble, wolves, raiders, and now an injured leg and shoulder.

"You won't be able to leave if you want to or not for while. Any ways it is night and we are in wolf country, if you leave now you'll be dead by morning for sure." She responded as if humored by my comment.

"Great, that bit of knowledge would have been useful a few days ago. I had to find that out the hard way."

"Yes we could tell," This was a new voice; I turned my head to look at the entrance of the tent where a well-dressed man stood. "Your coats were soaked in blood, my wife has taken off the stains but the smell, it will never leave. I do not think we will have to worry about wolf packs for a few years." He let out a small chuckle.

"I take it you are Taguarti Sorgan?" I took a guess, hoping that I wasn't mistaken. I did not want to insult anyone, especially the leader of the village in which I was staying.

"Savage yet wise, a strange combination I might add." He pulled up a stool next to me and sat on it. "Yes I am he. I take it my daughter told you of me." He whispered something to Shira, and she retired.

"First of I would like to say thank you on part of the whole village for saving us, our men were off trying to fight off another of the same group and we were left defenseless. The Wolves are indeed fearsome fighters." He said after Shira left. "Pray tell me about yourself. Where are you from and where are you going to?"

I was afraid he would ask those questions. I wasn't ready with an answer for it either being that I had just woken from a week long sleep, instead I changed the subject "Who are the wolves?" This would be harder than with Jebei, with him I could just ignore any questions I didn't want to answer and he would have to suffice with that. Now it was different, the man asking me was the village's leader and was generously housing me, I couldn't afford to be rude.

"The Wolves are a tribe that has migrated down from the north. Their reputation as incredibly skilled fighters proceeded them when they arrived four years ago. Their khan is a merciless man who thrives on attacking other villages. It seems you do not want me to know of yourself, I will respect that. By what name should I call you stranger?" He stood up as if to leave.

"If you want a name you may call me Junchi." I said hoping that it was sufficient.

"Junchi, eh. So be it. Do you wish anything before I leave you tonight?"

"It would be most helpful for a brighter fire, it is dimming and I am not going to go to sleep for a while, not after the one from which I just woke up from. I would also like my sword to be brought to me; it is my most valued possession."

"Yes I know," I looked at him, puzzled by his remark. "When we took you inside it took two men to pry it from your hands, you've got quite a gripe. I shall send in my daughter to tend to your fire."

After a few minutes of silence Shira came back into the tent with some fire wood. She placed the wood down on the opposite side of the fire and laid my sword next to me. After that she started up the fire, soon it was bright enough so that I could see her face. She was beautiful, at least in comparison to the women that I had seen during my life, namely my mother and the other women of my tribe. Now that I think about it she was the first woman that I had seen in twelve years. Her eyes were a light green, rare for Mongolian women, and she had long brown hair that reached down to her back. I diverted my gaze else wares so that it appeared that I was not looking at her.

I was about to ask her when she thought that I would be able to walk when she answered my question. "You should be able to walk within a few months, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to leave the village till after next winter."

"That long," The words slipped out. "Sorry, are you sure it'll take that long?"

She smiled, increased her beauty, "You are impatient, but I guess that should be expected from a nomad." She finished stroking the fire and began to leave. At the entrance she stopped and turned, "Is there anything else that you want tonight?"

"No, thank you." I responded.

"In that case I will be leaving."

What a day, I thought to myself as I lay there immobile. Then I remembered that I had been asleep for the better part of a week. Too much time was wasted and too much more was going to be spent in the village. I thought of all that had happened since I first saw the trail of smoke from the village things went from bad to worse. First the wolves, then the Wolves; ironic enough. Then raiders who actually turned out to be Mongols, I had killed them thinking they were Chinese and now a wave of guilt washed over me. I prayed to my ancestors and Mother Earth to forgive me, killing Chinese was in my blood it was my imposed will and right, but killing Mongols was another deal altogether. I finally came to the conclusion that it was for survival, and by what Taguarti said it seemed that they were as ruthless as the Chinese.


	5. Chapter 5: Shira Sorgan

**Chapter 5**

Shira Sorgan

The next day I woke before dawn, it would not have been anything unusual for me if it had not been for the time that I had gone to sleep the previous night. Since I could not get up, I had to content myself with laying there in silence and see what I could learn about my surroundings by what I could hear outside the yurt. I listened for a while but the only sound that came to me was that of the wind blowing through the trees. I did not hear any footsteps so I figured that no one was awake.

Instead I looked around the yurt. It was a small, meant for only one person, with a small fire in the middle with a hole in the roof to allow the smoke to leave. The yurt's canvas was worn indicating that it had belonged to someone else previous to my arrival. It would do for the time being but I would rather to be placed outside under the cover of a tree than inside a yurt. I ask Taguarti about moving me outside.

After some thirty minutes of sitting there I began to hear movement outside my yurt, finally someone was awake. Though nobody came into my yurt I could tell that several people had gathered a little way off from the little snatches of their conversation that I could hear. The air smelled like rabbit stew, something that I hadn't had in years. Rabbits were not scarce in any of the places where I had traveled but extremely difficult to catch, I was better off catching the marmots. Unless one sits and waits for one to pass by, the only other way to catch them is by setting traps and I being a nomad didn't have the time or resources for such things. Plus a fire sends off a smoke trail which gives out a position to any looking for such a sight. Soon after I had smelled the stew, a someone came into the yurt carrying a bowl of it and along with it a piece of bread, instead of Shira bringing it in a boy was my server.

"Good morning," He said as he placed the bowl next to me "Careful it's hot."

"Who are you?" I asked as I picked up the bowl and placed it on my lap. Indeed it was hot as he had said but not to excess.

"I am Togrul Munlik. Shira busy now, she has other things to attend to so I volunteered to come and help." He was very energetic and sat down with another bowl that he had brought and ate it on the opposite side of the fire. For several minutes ate in silence till I realized that the boy was staring at me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked roughly.

"How did you get that scar, it looks painful?"

"It was an accident, when I was young. Nothing to get all worked up for."

Togrul switched the subject. "You probably don't know this, but you saved my life." He looked up at me with a smile on his face.

After thinking on this I responded "Your right, I have no idea how I saved your life. Unless you count killing the raiders but that could include the whole village." Life in a village was already so confusing; I did not know how much more I could take before bursting.

"When you came in, the first one you killed was about to swing his sword at me when you killed him." I remembered back to that day and recalled seeing the boy there just in the corner of my eye. Barely though, I would not have been able to identify him from that but would take his word for it. "I thought I was going to die for sure and next thing I know you come running in and a dead body is falling on me instead of a sword." He continued to eat his meal and I did the same. After each of us had finished Togrul sat up.

"Now that you have finished your breakfast, I will go and get Taguarti. He wanted to speak with you some more after you ate." I nodded in response to his suggestion and he left, leaving me alone once more, thank goodness. Maybe it was because I had been isolated from other people for so long or for some other reason, but the last several boys that I had met were extremely annoying. For a while there was no one save myself in the yurt. Outside, however, the habitants of the village were bustling about getting their morning chores done so that they may enjoy their entertainments. When the yurt flap finally opened Taguarti stood there.

"How is our savior doing on this fine morning, eh?" He chuckled, grabbed the same stool that he had the previous night and set it net to me. I looked past him to see Togrul standing outside the yurt trying to see what we were doing. When Taguarti saw what I was looking at, he shooed Togrul away and closed the yurt flap.

"Sorry about him, he can be a little intrusive. There is a reason for his behavior though, I do not want to bore you with details but his family has suffered a tragedy and he is trying to overcome it." Taguarti dropped his head sadly and began to shake it. "Any ways, back to my first question, how are you now?"

"I am much, better thanks to your daughter. She has these bandages wrapped so tight around my legs I feel nothing, not even pain." It was true, although the pain was gone nothing was there to substitute it so I felt like my leg was bloated and it felt tingly from the waist down as soon as I started to move it.

"Yes, Shira is our best healer since her grandfather passed away; she can heal almost anything that this village gets, including war wounds. Those have become her specialty since all the raids on the village."

His head still hung. "We have been invaded by raiding parties for longer than I have been alive. By both Chinese and Mongol regrettably, tribes of a same nationality waging war on each other just to get by, at least that is why most do it, I am sure the Wolves and the Chinese do it only for sport."

Although they were raiders and had caused the death of dozens of Taguarti's tribe, I still felt a wave of guilt for killing them. I never thought that I would have to kill another Mongol. My feud was not with them, rather with the Chinese. It showed how naïve I was and taught me that I had plenty to learn about the world. There was a silence in the room. Then Taguarti broke it.

"Well," he said as he rose from his stool "I am glad to know that you are well. Shira will be coming later tonight to change your bandages." He began to leave.

"Please I have one request." He turned waiting, "First off, I do not wish to be rude in any way and I am grateful for your hospitality. I must, however, admit that I do not enjoy the restrictions of a yurt, there is nothing wrong with it, it is just that I am not accustomed to living indoors and would appreciate a place outside the village under a tree. I do not need much, only a blanket to sleep on."

He grinned, "On my account it is fine. Your only problem will be my daughter, she insisted that we place you in this particular yurt for some medical reasons that I could not understand. I will speak to her though." And with that he left.

A little after the sun set Shira came in with some rolls of white bandages. "Hello how are you feeling today?" She asked me upon entering the yurt, "Sorry that I did not come in earlier, I had several other things to do and they kept me busy all day."

"It is okay." Just her presence made me feel somehow better. She put my leg up on a stool that instead of having a flat surface was shaped in the form of a 'U' and began to slowly unwrap the bandages on my leg. "Has your father told you about my request to be moved from this yurt?"

As she answered I felt a sigh indication that she did not like the idea because she tugged extra hard, probably not intentionally, while untying the last part of the bandages. "Yes I did and I tried to change my father's mind and have you kept here but he would not listen." She had taken the bandages off by now and was examining the wound for any infections, I tried to look at it but Shira wouldn't let me, "Do not look. Stuff like that has caused others, including myself, to faint." I did not think she really thought that I would pass out; instead I think she was just annoyed at my request for a change of residence.

Shira went over to stroke the fire and placed a small pot over it. While she was doing this I took a glimpse at my leg, it was gruesome, between the dried blood and the red flesh inside I could tell how someone else could vomit at the sight of it. Shira had taken some kind of fine wire and used it to pull the two halves of my wound together.

She turned before I could lie back, "I told you not to look." There was more amusement in her voice than anger, "I should have known. The first thing someone does after being told not to do something is to do it."

"Sorry curiosity got the better of me." I laid back down content that I had seen to what extent the damage was. After the pot was steaming, she dipped a towel in it and then laid the towel over my wound. It stung so hard that I sat up and placed both hands over the towel and pressed harder.

"Do not do that." Shira said as she tried to remove my hands, "You are only making it hurt worse." For a moment I did not believe her, than seeing the reason in her words, I complied and released my grip from my leg. She then gently cleaned the dirt out. To stop myself from screaming I was handed a piece of cloth nearby and bit on it hard. When she had finished, she wrapped it up with new bandages and put the old ones in the fire.

I thought of asking her to stay for a while longer but realized the foolishness of it. Why should she stay, what would there be to do except to talk with me. But I was sure that she did not care for such a practice, from what I had observed she was a quiet girl and I doubt she would like to talk much. Besides, I do not think that her father would appreciate the idea much. After dismissing the idea I tried to figure out why I had gotten the idea n the first place.

She stood up to leave, "Is there anything else you need before I retire for the night?" she asked at the yurt's entranced.

I thought once more on the idea but I could not bring myself to ask, "No thank you Shira."

"In that case I will be leaving," she said "I will be back to clean your wound tomorrow morning." And with that she left.

Always the first thought in my mind when I went to sleep was the same that had passed through my head for the past twelve years: Revenge. The memory of the rider and his raiders slaughtering my tribe and how I had to avenge my tribe's death and that I could not rest until it was fulfilled. That thought was which turned any warmth in my heart to a cold, merciless one, bloodthirsty for the death of my enemies.

But that night I had a different thought. As strange as wanting her to stay, I found my mind resting on thoughts of Shira. I was a confusing feeling that they gave me, seeming to calm my rage which constantly inhabited my heart. I dismissed the thoughts; getting tangled in any sort of relationship with anyone would only hamper my mission. Plus if such things continued they would eventually lead to, me wanting to stay. And that was defiantly out of the question.

The next day Taguarti and some of his men moved me, despite Shira's every protest, outside the village under a tree with wide branches. She did however request that a canvas be placed above me so to protect me if it were to rain, which was not very likely since it was still dry season. I enjoyed the change in ambient greatly and felt much more at home. Though I told this to Shira, she still tried to convince me to return to the yurt but after realizing that it was fruitless, she gave up.

Over the next few months the feelings for Shira grew, I tried to make it so it would not be noticed by her or her father, who would come in every day or so and inform me on the happenings in the village just for conversational purposes. Twice times a day Shira would come and treat my leg each time she would clean it and place new bandages on it. I was not quite sure about it but I was sure that she was taking longer to do the process each time so to spend more time with me. We would not talk much rather I would watch as she would gently clean and wrap new bandages on the wound which was getting better by the day, thanks to her care.

Within eight months of being in the village I had recuperated my ability to walk, somewhat that is. At first I could only take a few steps, with Shira helping me, before I would have to rest it again. After my ninth month we would walk all around the village, about a kilometer or so, once without rest. I enjoyed these walks immensely because I got to spend time with Shira and I was recuperating my strength.

Once I ventured to ask her how she felt for me. "I wish for you to stay here." She said, "I do not want you to leave the village."

"I cannot," I said sadly, "I have things that I must do before I could stay. Things which I should not tell to you."

"And why not?" We had returned to my makeshift yurt, "Is it that dark of a secret that you cannot tell me? If you must kill someone it will not scare me, I saw what you did here nine months ago." I did not know what to do, if I told her she would be the first to hear it, but I thought of it as a secret that only I could know.

"Yes, I must kill someone, Shira, I will tell you that much. I cannot explain it any further than I have: I cannot stay. I have a vow to fulfill and if I do not I will be shamed forever."

With that she turned and left without saying a word. I stood there in the darkness, alone.


	6. Chapter 6: A Difficult Choice

**Chapter 6**

A Difficult Choice

Well after my fire had gone out I was still awake. Even though I needed to start it up because of the cold I did not feel like doing it. The battle was raging in my head again, the two options after I healed tearing at my heart; whether to go or to stay. After hours of tossing and turning in the darkness I finally fell asleep. Immediately after I fell asleep I had a dream.

In the dream I was looking at Shira doing her daily chores from a distant as I often did. She looked at me and smiled; how beautiful she was. Then a figure stepped in front of me blocking my view of Shira, I looked up to see my father standing there, arms folded across his chest shaking his head.

"My son why do you avert your gaze from your objective?" He said. His voice was stern and sounded disappointed, "Why do you ignore your duty to your family?"

"I am sorry, father." I found I could talk to him purposely and not as if I was watching it. "I did not wish to turn off the path. I was tired and wanted to stop my mission."

"But son, it is your duty to avenge your family. Is that not your wish?"

"It is, father, do not worry for I will complete my duty. But I cannot continue to do this alone" He sat down in front of me, now we were looking eye to eye.

"When have you been alone my son? I have always been with you, my spirit will always accompany you as long as you carry this sword," He held my sword in his hands offering it to me, "In this sword the spirits of all those to whom it belonged before you rest, including my own, they will accompany you though all your trials and give you strength. Now get up and fulfill your duty."

I took the sword from his hands and stood up, "I will my father."

He got up and stood next to me looking towards Shira, "There will be a time for that after you have completed your objective. Remember I am always with you." With that he and Shira faded out of view.

The next two months I continued to exercise my leg even though Shira did not come. When Togrul would bring me my food, I would ask how she was doing.

"She is well. She cannot come because of her chores." That became his answer every time or some variation of it. I got the impressing that Shira did not have any more tasks than she usually did, rather that she was avoiding me. I had no doubt that she was angry with me for refusing to stay in the village.

One day when Togrul brought me my breakfast he said, "Today the elders are requesting to see you."

I looked up, "What do you mean the elders? Of the village?"

"They are the only elders I know, yes." He answered not breaking his eating pattern.

"Do you know why?" I placed down my bowl and got Togrul to do the same.

"I think it has something to do with tribe stuff, I only heard a small bit where they were talking about making the village safe from raiders, not that any have come since you arrived, I think you scared them off, at least for now." he continued eating, "They want you to come during lunch and eat with them while you talk."

As Togrul was picking up the bowls and getting ready to leave I asked him to tell the elders that I would accept their request and would join after lunch. After he left, I decided to try and do some laps around the village done before then, by this time I could run around and almost had recovered completely from my injury six months back. After I got back from running I took a short rest and strapped on my sword to my back then proceeded to walk towards where I figured the yurt of meeting to be. As I walked towards the yurt I looked around for Shira, I did not see her but several other people going about their day finishing up their morning chores so that they may relax. Most greeted me and I responded, while others, mostly a group of old men who were sitting around a table casting lots muttered faintly about me bringing violence to the village or something like that. Upon reaching the yurt, I slowly entered inside and was warmly greeted by its occupants made up but five elders sitting on cushions on the other side of a small fire in the middle, Taguarti Sorgan sitting in a similar condition but on the same side as I, and a few other helpers.

"Come in my friend, sit here." Taguarti bade me to enter and sit next to him, I obliged.

"First of all," The elder in the middle, who I took to be the main elder, said, "We would like to thank you for saving our village, we would have thanked you earlier but Taguarti thought it best we did not."

"I accept your thanks and in turn thank you for giving me shelter and food. If it is not too much to ask, what is the reason for which you summoned me to this meeting?" I was eager to find the reason for them wanting me there.

"Well we have another question for you." Another elder said, "We are a small tribe, and as you know we do not even migrate as most of the other tribes do. The reason for this is simply that we do not have the man power to change location. Here in the woodlands the Earth Mother has provided us with natural cover, those who attack us do so only because they happen to stumble across our camp. We have need of someone to be the guardian of our village maybe even to teach others to fight. We have men that can fight but they are not skilled enough."

I started to understand where this was headed. They wanted me to stay in the village and protect them.

"I understand that settling down might not be easy for one that has been a nomad, but in exchange for this favor we offer a gift. Taguarti says that his daughter, Shira, has caught your eye and that she in turn feels the same. He is offering you her hand in marriage in exchange for you staying here; we would also supply a yurt for you to live in." He stopped there, for a while there was silence save the crackling of the fire. I knew what I had to answer but did not want to do so in a way that would seem ungrateful, so I pretended to think about it for a while.

"I made my decision was set before I came into this yurt." I said choosing my words carefully so as not to offend, "Let me say first that I do not mean to insult any of you. You have all shown to be people of respectable character and I am grateful for your hospitality. But my decision is no. I cannot stay here."

The elders started to whisper amongst themselves, "Why is this?" One of them finally asked, "Can you tell us the reason for your decision?"

"I cannot say other than that I must regain my honor, I have made a vow that I must keep no matter what. If I do not I could not live with myself."

"In that case we will not try and persuade you to stay any longer." The elders continued, "But there is something we wanted to tell you if that were your decision. There is a new khan who has started to gather an army to the north. Three years ago he was named the Khakan of all Mongolia and followed by launching a group attack on the northern Chinese Empire. He has taken the name Genghis Khan."

A full frontal attack, that had not been done in hundreds of years, I was by far no scholar but what I did know is that for as long as anyone can remember and even further back the Chinese have always oppressed us and the tribes of Mongolia fought between each other, "How did you come upon this information?" I asked, this would be useful, a khan who would actually do something about the Chinese threat.

"Some four weeks ago a rider came from Ulaan Baator, the Khan's camp, announcing that Genghis Khan was calling all the tribes to unite together with him. Since we are not a warrior people we declined the invitation explaining this. Five of our youth have left us to join these forces. If you choose to do this you should head north west."

"I thank you again for your hospitality and for that information." With that they dismissed me and I returned to my place under the tree.

As soon as I got back to my spot I decided that I would leave that night. The idea of a khan willing enough to lead a whole army to wage war against China required great courage and daring seeing that most of the tribes and villages were scattered throughout Mongolia without any common form of government, not to mention that he would have to be inspiring enough to lead them all. I gathered what little was mine, tied it in a bundle and hid it behind the tree so that none could see it.

I was hoping that Shira would come later so that I could say good bye to her but she did not come. It was not like I expected her to know that I was leaving, I had not told it to anyone including her. I decided that I would visit her instead.. As I was passing between two yurts Taguarti rounded the corner to meet me.

"Ah, just the person I wanted to see." he said as he approached me. "I was just about to go and find you."

"For what reason might that be?" I asked.

"Come let us go into my yurt I have some warm mare's milk that we can talk over." We then proceeded into a large yurt close to the middle of the village. "Sit down please."

As I took my place I looked around for Shira, but it appeared as if she was not there. So I asked Taguarti of her whereabouts. "She is out berry picking in the forest behind us, is that why you were coming into the village?"

"Yes, I meant to talk with her." I answered, "But first what is it you wanted to talk with me about?"

"Well first I would like to tell you that I hold no malcontent towards you for your refusal of my offer." He said with a little more solemn voice.

"I had hoped that you would not." I that my next offer would please him. "Since we are here I would like to accept your offer in privacy. I intend to return after I have accomplished my duty and would like to have her as my wife. I do not know all the customs of matrimony amongst our people but I believe that the male must remain a year with the people of his future wife, in a way I have."

"Well," He said "you are correct in that and I must tell you that her first blood has already come to her, but I doubt that matters to you. It is custom to wed a girl after her first blood. As it is we are estranged from the other villages and very rarely did people come from other villages in peace. It is by that means only has she not yet been taken"

"I have your promise then, that she will be kept for me." I asked, a slight spark lit in my heart that I would be able to achieve both my desires.

"I will do this; given the event that you may fall in battle you have five years. By then Shira will be a full grown woman but still young enough for beauty and children. If you come back before that time, you may have her as your wife."

"I promise I will not make your wait a vain action. Now if that is all I will ask your permission to continue my search for Shira, I have something I must tell her and it is getting dark."

"One last thing before you leave, I am guessing that you came straight South from the steppes correct?" I nodded in agreement. "Well I would not suggest that road back to Ulaan Baator. As I have told you the Wolves that attacked our village the same day that you came has set camp in those plains, I do not know how you managed to get past before but I would advise against tying to do so again. The risk is too high, and knowing how they act I would not doubt that they would kill you as soon as their scouts saw you."

"What route would you suggest?" I asked.

"The Gobi desert to the west is the only other choice to go east around the plains would take too long and there you run the risk of running into Chinese soldiers, a much worse fate." I thanked him for his advice and he dismissed me and I left the yurt towards the woods behind the yurt. It took me only a few minutes to find Shira but several more to find the words before I could approach her. This could be the last time we spoke. When I reached her she was bent over picking raspberries, I approached her slowly and stepping purposely on some branches so that I didn't startle her. She looked up in response to the noise and then, pretending not to have seen me, continued her work.

After a while of me standing there she asked, "What do you want?" her voice was soft but I could tell that she was still mad at me.

"I would like to tell you that I am leaving tonight." I waited for a response but got none. "Please Shira, answer me. I know you do not like the idea but neither do I."

"Then why are you leaving?" She dropped the basket that she held in her hands and began to pick up fallen pieces while still shouting at me. "What is it that you have to do that keeps you from staying?"

I decided that I would tell her. How else could I get her to understand why I had to leave?

"I was born in the northern steppes, a khan's son. I lived happily there with my family. The spring that I turned four our village was attacked by Chinese raiders, they had already killed my father the previous night and we did not have sufficient men to defend ourselves. Out of the whole tribe only I remain. The leader of the band was the one who gave me this scar on my face when I resisted. He is the one whom I have sworn to kill, I cannot rest until I have killed him."

When I finished, she appeared to be on the verge of tears as if she wanted to tell me something but could not bring herself to say it. "I know that I should have told you before now but I did not know if I could. You are the only person I have told. I just wanted to tell you that before I left so that you could understand why I cannot stay any longer than I have already." She didn't respond to me rather she sat there on the floor looking at me till I could take it no longer, I left.

I returned to my yurt so to get some sleep before I would travel that night. I planned to leave towards midnight so I would not have to say any goodbyes. I already had suffered in departing from Shira, even though it was not even a proper one. It already being dark meant that I would have some four to five hours before I would leave. I gathered my bundle and used it as a pillow to lay my head on. I did not dream at all.

When I woke only the full moon shone, lighting up the ground below. Since it was at its apex I guessed that it was close to midnight. I made sure I had all my stuff and was about to buckle my sword on when I heard a noise from the village, someone was coming. I hid behind the tree till I could see who it was; I was surprised to see Shira coming out from the village. Upon recognizing her I stepped out from behind the tree and approached her.

"What are you doing here Shira?" I figured she was saying goodbye but I wondered why now, she could have done it earlier that evening.

"I came now because I did not want to make someone think you are leaving tonight, most of the others think that you are leaving tomorrow morning at first light." She sounded like she was choking back tears. "I have come to ask one last time to stay, if only for me"

"You know I want to, but you must understand that I have a duty that I must fulfill."

She came closer I saw that she was carrying something in her hands. "I know, I thought that I might ask one last time. I prayed that you would change your mind, but I see that it is fruitless to continue so." She hung her head sadly.

"Do not act like we will never see each other again," I closed the space in between us till I could see the tears on her face glistening off the moonlight, "I will return. I swear by my father's grave, Shira, I will return for you."

"But how long must I wait?" she asked me, "How long must I wait for you, there will be others who will come for me and what shall I tell them?"

I thought of telling her of my conversation with her father, but he could tell her that. I did not want our last minutes to be taking about arrangements. "I cannot tell you what to say, or how long it will be before I return. I can only ask you to trust me and to hold onto that till I return." I looked down at her waiting for an answer; finally she pressed something into my hands and stepped back. I was some type of fur.

"What is it?" I asked; puzzled by what I held in my hands.

As I unfolded it I realized that it was an animal's skin coat. "It is wolf fur, I made it myself." She said as I looked at it, it was a beautiful piece of work. "Togrul says that it was from one of the wolves that you killed before you can here. He gave it to me and I decided to make it into a coat, he also gave me this bow." She handed me my bow that I had lost a year ago. Her voice was cut off as she started to cry and by now it was affecting her speech.

"Thank you Shira," I unbuckled my sword from my back and put on the coat. "I will keep this with me till I return. I will return!" I bent down, kissed her on the cheek than I stepped back to get one last look at her, and then left at a swift trot. Silently returning to the woods from whence I came.

As I left I could hear her say faintly, "I will wait, my love."


	7. Chapter 7: Return to the Wild

**Chapter 7**

Return to the Wild

I ran northwest till sunrise, where I found a small stream from which to drink, I looked around for wild berries but found none. After resting a little while I continued. I decided that it would be best to get my bearings, so I climbed up a pile of rocks to get a look around. The sun had just risen. Looking back towards where I had come I could see the first wisps of smoke rising from the village, Shira was probably telling her father that I had left the previous night. I looked around for any other landmarks but everything was about the same; green trees for several miles in every direction. To the far northwest, I could see an ending to the trees and a little farther than that; a slight yellowish gleam.

It had been almost a year since I had been in the wild and I felt like I had been reborn into a different body. There was no doubt that I would probably miss Shira eventually but I had another priority: survival. Now that I was not in the village anymore, I had to fend for myself again. I remembered my encounter with the wolves and hoped that I was out of their territory. I did not need a repeat of that.

Around half way through the day the skies clouded over and it started to drizzle I found out that Shira had taken the upper part of the skull and lined it with wool, thus making an efficient hood. I also discovered that the fur on the coat had been coated with oil so coat not only kept me dry but itself as well, that would eventually wear out of course. I stopped running and started to walk so that I would not slip and fall in the fresh mud. Despite the fact that I enjoyed walking in the rain did not mean I enjoyed sleeping in it, so for the last few hours of sunlight, which was barely visible, I searched to find a suitable shelter. Finally I came upon a canyon with several ledges each holding several caves of different size and depth. I took a small shallow in an effort not to take that of some other animal

As the night wore on the rain got heavier. It started to lighting and the thunder followed close behind in large booms. I stayed up late watching the display of lights. In the canyon the flashes of lights would cast shadows and lit up the caves. In those brief moments I could see my surroundings and get a basic idea of where I was and how deep my cave went. When the lighting and thunder finally ended I could get some sleep. The night now being tranquil cast an eerie silence across the canyon, nonetheless it allowed me to get a good night's sleep.

The following morning I was woken by the sound of falling rocks, something was in the canyon. The sun had just peeked over the trees and shone enough light so that I could see a deer walking. It was a curious sight, I could not figure out why it had come there until I saw that its rear left leg was causing it to limp and occasionally, in the loose rocks, lose its footing and fall. This was the chance of a lifetime for me; a wounded animal which would feed me for a week had just walked up into my presence. The trouble was that I did not have a bow or arrows, and I could not try to attack it directly because it would flee, even though it was injured. I thought for a while than it occurred to me to make a sling. During my time with Bektor we did not have an easy way to make arrows so he taught me to use a sling. I tore off the bottom part of both pant legs and tried them together all the meanwhile following the buck along the cliffs and trying not to make a sound. After the sling was ready I found a nice round stone and loaded it into the sling. I had to at least hit the buck or it would run away, if I could I would aim to hit it in the head or another spot of equal value.

The sling started to sing softly as I swung it over my head. I waited for the buck to stop so that it would be an easier target to hit, and after finding a suitable grazing area it stooped down to eat. This was my chance, I slowly stood up, sling still twirling above my head, and let the stone go. I missed and the stone hit the buck's antler, the force shook its head but it recovered and tried its best to run away. I did not get three meters before its leg gave out and it collapsed. I as on it in a flash lifted up its head and cranked the neck. The limp body fell to the ground

I was inspecting the buck's antlers to see if I could make anything out of them when I heard some more rocks slide and cackle against the ground. I looked up to see what had caused it and immediately stopped moving.

A Bengal tiger was crouching on some rocks not ten meters away, it turned out I was not the only one who was watching the deer. I hated to run but I had to, fighting a full grown tiger was not a wise move, especially in enclosed areas. They could tear a man's hind off with a sling of their claws and their teeth could break spears.

I slowly moved back from the buck which still lay twitching on the spot where it had fallen. Not lifting my eyes off the tiger. It eyed me with curiosity as if wondering which would make a better meal; human of venison. When the tiger judged I was a fair distance away it pounced on the buck and began to tear at its flesh.

I watched the tiger, from a cave a safe distance away and out of sight, eat its fill of the meat, hoping to get whatever was left. The tiger feasted itself off my kill till it had eaten it's full, than it slowly walked away and out of the canyon. Midday was approaching and I had already lost valuable time watching the tiger eat its meal. When I reached the carcass to inspect for any meat I found that all that was left were mainly vital organs such as the heart and lungs, but even those had bite marks on them as if the tiger had been testing them for taste and rejected them. I gathered the little meat was left on the bones and in the bowels and left before any other predators could come to claim the rest of the buck. I also cut off one of the antlers. I decided that I might not find suitable shelter outside the canyon so I decided to stay there for one more night.

After picking up some sticks and dead leaves from the surrounding area I returned to my cave and cooked the rest of the meat with flint that I had taken from the village, I did feel a little guilty of taking it but I was sure that they had plenty and I had left mine on the steppes.

Later after eating I sat on a rock near the cave mouth and started to carve the antler into a knife with my sword. I also wanted to take a knife from the village but decided against that one, I knew I would get one somehow or other and here was the way. It only took a few minutes and when I had finished the knife was about 18 centimeters long, including the handle which I smoothed using a bit of leather. For the time being I had no sheath to put it in so I just wrapped it up in my sling and tied it to my leg above the pant line so that none could see it, that would be useful if I was ever in another situation as with the slavers when I needed a weapon to defend myself with.

The following morning it was still drizzling, though lighter than the previous night. At first light I left the cave and headed towards where I guessed to be north east, the sun not showing enough to tell otherwise. It was an interesting way to travel, the coat was a great help. I doubt that I would have been able to complete the journey that day without it. Shira showed to be extremely resourceful in putting the oil on it made sure that it did not get wet and soggy which, other than soaking myself, would increase the weight of the coat tenfold.

The trek seemed longer than it actually was, I suppose that was because the rain. After some three hours of traveling I came to a fast moving. I guessed that it probably was part of the same that I had passed a year before. Yet now, with summer coming and the rains with it the river had swelled well pass the place that I thought that it would and threatened to pass over the banks. Several branches and a few small trees were being pulled down the river, in one of the trees two small birds were flying around as if their nests were still in the tree. They must have built it a few months ago before the rains started.

At first it flowed north to south but soon I ran into a curve coming from the east, cutting off my path. I was forced to travel east along the bank till I could reach a way to cross it; the river had to bend sooner or later. Around noon the rain stopped and the sun shone through the wet branches showing shadows which would play across the grass at my feet. It turned out that I had miscalculated to my favor and had traveled north east along the river and was steadily turning northward. I heard a faint roaring of water hitting water and decided to follow the river till I reached the sound. It was, as I thought, a huge waterfall.

The waterfall was at least ten meters high and had several levels where the water would come crashing down. I chose it as a good rest place and went and got some wild mushrooms growing around a small inlet from the river. I inspected them to see if they were poisonous and found that they were shiitake mushrooms, they were still young but had a fresh flavor to them. Those along with water from the inlet and some venison refreshed me and after looking at the waterfall for a few more minutes continued my journey. I would have liked to make a stew with the ingredients but decided against it, something inside of me told me to keep going. I did not have much time to stop and look around at nature either. I could look at flowers and plants along the way but I could not stop to watch a waterfall for more than a few minutes, I had to get as far as I could to make up for lost time the previous day.

As the day wore on I started to feel like I was being followed. It was that odd feeling of hairs rising on the back of my neck. If there ever was a sixth sense, this was it. However, even though I repeatedly turned around to try and see my pursuer I could not and remained with the conclusion that it was only my imagination playing tricks on me. But I had grown enormously cautious since my encounter with the slavers so I continued with my hand on my knife in case someone attacked me. I walked another fifteen kilometers without further incident before it started to get dark. I found a suitable shelter among some large boulders, just in case I was being followed. I did, however, slept very well that night, taking into consideration that I had lodged myself in between two big rocks.

The following morning I left my hiding spot with caution, still wary from the previous day. I set off, as usual, in the general direction of Ulaan Baator. I continued this pattern for the following four weeks. During the entirety of this period every few days I would get that feeling that I was being followed, so much that I tried to back track myself hoping to catch my pursuer but always without success. I grew so cautious that I stopped carrying my sword on my back and in turn carried it in my hand and would not sleep anywhere where something bigger than I could get into.

I knew than that something was following me; it was just a matter of time before it exposed itself or I found it out. The time came one day after passing through a dead tree that had fallen a few weeks prior and still had dry leaves on the ground. After passing through I heard a sound behind me, just where the dead leaves had started to litter the floor. I could not find a shelter suitable to hide in so I climbed a nearby tree. To my luck there was a spot where three thick branches intertwined, forming a type of giant nest which had filled with dead leaves from autumns past. I climbed into it and spent the rest of the afternoon looking down at the forest floor, hoping to see what had been following me. I did not have such luck, the sun set without me seeing anything but brush and grass. I realized, while I was looking, that I had not taken time during the recent events to realize how much I loved returning to the wilderness and away from civilization. I felt like could stay there forever and never have to return to other people again, but then the thoughts of my family and my promise returned to me and I had to face the reality that I would have to go back and finish my work.

I also missed Shira, after leaving the village I thought of her intermittently during my travels. It was painful to think of how much time had passed since I had last seen her, and even more so to think of how much time would pass before I might see her again. Even though if any one asked me at the time I would have denied it, I liked to keep the profile of being an independent type that did not need anyone, certainly not a girlfriend. Though in my heart I held her as close as I would allow myself.

A few hours after sun down I decided that it would do no good to continue to search the ground that night. So I went to sleep and tried to get as much as possible before the next day. I would try and leave extra early so to throw off my purser.

I did sleep well that night and woke up before dawn. It was the perfect time. I sheathed my sword to facilitate my decent and was getting out of the "nest" when I heard a deep growl from below, about a meter or two from my right. At first I was too scared to see what was below, but I quickly overcame this fear and decided to take a look.

Whatever it was it certainly woke up early. I resumed my post from the previous night in the branches and looked down into the gloom to see the source of the noises. As the sun was coming out I could distinguish a large shape walking on all fours on the ground, circling the tree in which I sat.


	8. Chapter 8: The Great Cat

**Chapter 8**

The Great Cat

It was a tiger, a full grown, Bengal Tiger, a little far west than usual but that mattered little at the moment. I watched it curiously from the safety of the tree for a while, assuring myself that I was safe. It was circling the tree's trunk slowly; every now and then it would start sniffing higher up the trunk but then would return to the ground. After some three or four rounds, it looked up and, upon seeing me, growled loudly at me. I thought little of this, it actually amused me, the way I saw it I was safe up here and the tiger would eventually get bored and leave. Than my security was washed away when it did something that I thought impossible, it started to climb the tree.

I sat there, frozen with fear, watching the tiger slowly climb the tree. It would latch its front claws into the wood, doing the same with its hind legs and would then jump up and grab on again, even this gained it only a few dozen centimeters each time it did so with surprising alacrity. It would reach me in a matter of minutes.

I considered my options, I could stay there and fight in whatever way I could or jump into another tree. Some arrows would be nice to accompany my bow but Shira had not brought any the night of my departure and I had not taken any. I decided to take the first option, after all I did not know if tigers could jump three meters down to the ground and I was sure that they could jump from tree to tree with a lot more ease than a human. I looked over the side to see that the tiger had already reached the side of the branch. I had only enough time to pull out my sword before it reached it had joined me. As soon as it was up I regretted not having moved. Now I only had some two square meters of space with which to fight a tiger. I looked around for a way to get down contrary to the way I had climbed up because the tiger now blocked that exit. Meanwhile the tiger had started to paw dangerously close to my stomach and I was starting to lose my balance avoiding my guts being ripped out.

Quickly sheathing my sword, I jumped to a nearby branch just as the tiger jump at me. Now I was actually in a worse position than before since I could not defend myself, hanging an arm's length away from the gaping jaws of death. A branch from another tree crossed in front of me so I let go of the one I was hanging on and grabbed the other. When I did this the branch splintered near the base and swung towards the tree, barely missing the trunk. However, it did send me rolling several meters along the ground till I slid to a stop. I got up, a little dizzy and disoriented, but at least I was on the ground. Now it would be easier fight at least that was what I hoped.

As I figured the tiger jumped right down from the tree using the branches I had used to climb up and was on the ground seconds after myself. I unsheathed my sword and prepared to fight.

The tiger slowly crept towards me, its eyes watching for any sudden movements. It stopped just out of reach for my sword and bared its fangs. It let out a low growl and pounced! I rolled to my left more out of instinct than desire. I got up in time to see the feline coming again; there was not any time to avoid to attack. I was able to move sufficiently, however, to cause the tiger to throw me against a nearby tree. Which in hindsight is not much better than being pinned down given the fact my sword was thrown a few meters away.

It was one of those situations where all you could do is stand there and pray because actually doing anything, like running, would not be of any help. My predator started at me slowly; the distance was not much and it had me backed against a tree and was taking its own good time. It pounced, same as before teeth and fangs bared.

They say your life flashes before your eyes before your eyes as you die, it does not. At least it didn't for me, besides how could anyone know it to be a truth: they are all dead. Either way it does not matter, I did not die. The last thing I knew was that a full grown tiger hit me against the tree and knocked the wind out, but when I realized I was still breathing realized there was an arrow sticking out of the Tigers left eye

The arrow sliced right into its brain. The impact killing it instantly and instead of having me as the next meal I was its final resting place. The arrow had come from the bow of a young Mongol in strange garbs that had stayed in the bushes behind me.

After the tiger slumped against me it took a minute for me to regain my breath. Struggling I lifted the tiger off me and pushed it to the side 200 kilos of dead weight which is more weightily than it seems when alive.

The youth came out of the shrubs and into the clearing. He passed me as if I was not there and proceeded to remove the arrow from the cat's head, after it passed whatever test he had for it he returned it his quiver.

"I do not know what kind of idiot you are for picking a fight with a tiger, but I would suggest that you should think twice before attempting it again." He said before turning towards me.

"What makes you think I wanted to meet him, it has been stalking me for days now?" I responded with the same lack of respect that he was showing me. However grateful that I was for his saving me I would not allow myself to be subject to any such talk. "Either way, thank you for your help."

"It was my pleasure; tiger meat is rare but good, you are welcome to some of the meat if you want." He had already gotten down and was starting to skin the tiger.

"Thank you." I said as I picked up my sword and returned it to its place. "But I lack the means of carrying more than a day's worth."

"If your destination is Ulaan Baator then you have more time than you might think; Genghis Khan will not be going anywhere for about a year."

"How do you know that, last time I check wanders do not hold council with khans?"

"No but you would be surprised how fast word spreads amongst the ranks of the Khan's Horde."

"You are in the Horde?

"You might say so. I do not wish to be manipulated by the Khan or any other should his interest turn against what I think is honorable. I will partake in the battles and kill whom I must. To put it simply I am a mercenary."

"So are you coming or going from Ulaan Baator?" A companion was not what I had in mind, but he and saved my life and there is more security with another person rather than being alone.

"Going, I was attending to some personal business but I have finished and am heading back. My superior officer told me of the plans and how long I had before I had to return." He stopped what he was doing. "My name is Toshi."

"Toshi?" I repeated incredulously "That is not Mongol. How did you come to have such a name?"

He thought for a while, as if contemplating whether the information was worth telling me. "It is a long tale, come I shall grant you guest rights in my camp."

"I looked around this is your camp?"

He pointed at a charred patch of earth that had been partially covered by dirt "Yes see, I camped here last night and managed to get out of the way just before you two came crashing down, quite literally in fact." He gestured at the tiger.

I was still thinking over whether I wanted someone with me to cross the desert, chances were that he knew more than me but nonetheless it would take more water to fuel two people over one and I could carry little as it were.

As if sensing my dilemma Toshi cut off my train of thought "I'll make you a deal, since you brought me a tiger, whether intentional or not, and since we have the same destination: I will show you the quickest way around the desert. I can tell that you do not intend to go around the east side but the west is more favorable given the current circumstances"

"Why not through the desert?" going around could take four times as long to get to Ulaan Baator.

"I take it you have never seen the Gobi. Well it is only a day's walk from here and our path will be alongside it, but to explain: the desert is a seemingly never-ending sea of sand. Water is scarce and only those who have lived around it their whole lives know where any can be found."

As we prepared the camp Toshi, or so he called himself, explained the many reasons way going around the desert was a much better choice; sandstorms, quick sand, lack of any landmarks, and worst the heat of the day and the cold of the night. The fire wood was not a hard thing to come by the rains had passed and several branches had been littered on the ground after my tussle with the tiger.

By sun down we had gotten the parts of the meat that were needed and discarded the remains away from the camp. It was a shame that we could not take any more than a few handfuls of meat; it would spoil in a few hours without some means of preserving it and most means were not at our disposal.

"By the way, my friend" Toshi asked after we were sitting around the fire. "I forgot to ask you your name. Or did you just neglect to tell me?" He gave me a suspicious look.

"My name is my own business, and by that remark I mean no offense; it is a personal matter."

"Do not worry I will not take any. A man's own business is to be respected. But what shall you have me call you on our journey? I doubt 'nobody' is a good one."

"Junchi, it is what I have been called in the past. The meaning 'unexpected' is quite fitting for someone in my situation."

"It must be quite difficult," Toshi said. I turned to see his sad face. "A name like that cannot have a good beginning."

"No it does not," There was a moment of silence; I sensed he wanted me to continue as  
I wanted to. I had wanted to tell the story many times before but could not bear to do so. It was just too…

"It is too painful is it not? He cut off my train of thought. "Do not worry, the feeling is mutual; it took me over five years to get over the losses that I have experienced and I rarely ever talked about them with others."

We returned to the silence that both of us wanted to embrace. For about half an hour the two of us stared into the flames each with our own separate thoughts and memories. Somehow I felt that the two of us had more in common that we thought; maybe it was because we had both gone through some type of traumatic experience or maybe I was just tired.

"Come we can share tales when we have time, the hour is late and we have a long journey ahead, good night Junchi."

"Good night," I responded. "Toshi."


	9. Chapter 9: The Road to Ulaan Baator

**Chapter 9**

The Road to Ulaan Baator

I know it might seem that we have all day but that does not mean we should waste it all by sleeping," Toshi's voice and the sound on liquid being poured over the fire woke me up. I had been dreaming of reaching for … something. I could not quite put my hand on it, literally. Every time I would wake up I would forget what it was, and I was ever reaching as well. I never did like dreams; they never seemed to agree with me and usually boded some evil.

I had been travelling with Toshi for about a month and learned much from him. All my knowledge about how to survive paled in compared to Toshi's; he appeared as if he had been born with the knowledge. He claimed his father had taught him and it was a family tradition. The story seemed concrete enough but it was just odd for someone to know so much, even amongst Mongols. He taught me things that, had I known before, would have saved me much hardships during past winters. Many times during my times in the steppes I almost froze to death.

I looked towards the East to see the sun was shining just over the horizon. Every day we set out at sunrise and we would make camp before sunset; a monotonous lifestyle by yourself, I should know, but improved greatly when there is another person to converse with, not that we talk much about anything in particular. Our conversations usually revolved around sights or any random thought. Toshi was a very talkative person, which under normal circumstances would clash with a person as unspoken as I, but respected that my lack of desire for a prolonged conversation.

The day before we had left the forest and were about to enter the mountains. "Our pace will be a bit slower soon," Toshi had said a few days earlier. The rocky terrain will make the going harder but it is better than walking through the sand." I had gotten to see the Gobi a few days after Toshi and I had met. We needed to avoid a clan and the only way was to enter the Gobi for two days before we could return to the plains. It was a fascinating and horrifying view at the same time. All that was visible till the horizon was sand dunes

Walking through the sand proved to be a very laborious process; the shifting sands would move under your feet, appearing to be more water than ground. I see why Toshi referred to it as a "sea".

**Two weeks into our journey we began to get into the mountains. And again, Toshi was right, the going was much slower and our pace was reduced by several kilometers a day. It took a few days of traveling to realize that we had left any recognizable trail and were practically walking blindly.**

"**So how to we know where to go? I cannot tell one rock from another." I ask after we had set up camp.**

"**It is quite simple really, I have several landmarks set up that I can follow to form a chain along which we travel. Eventually we will reach a road that takes us into Ulaan Baator."**

"**I thought the idea was to stay off the main roads."**

"**Yes it is." He responded. The sun would set in a few minuets. I was preparing the marmot we had caught earlier that day while Toshi managed the fire. "But we cannot hope to get into the city by means of sneaking in, besides we will be close enough to the camp not to have to worry as much about thieves."**

"**So, just so I know where are we going now?"**

**Toshi had been able to start the fire and it was strong enough to be left to grow. "There is a peak ahead of us, just a little off North, with a plateau underneath it. Can you see it?"**

**It took me a second but sure enough there it was. Maybe three days journey from where we had set up camp, it almost looked like an arrow sticking up out of a round shield. I nodded in acknowledgement.**

"**That is the next bench mark, after that there is two twin peaks, following that … a cliff in the shape of a hand and from there we will see the road." I was astounded at how precise he could remember the details of the "path" he had assembled from simple objects. Though I guess I should not be; Mongolians have a natural sense of direction that most nations never even rival.**

**The passage through the mountains took the better part of the next month. The travel was made harder by landslides that, while they did not happen in our presence, changed the way that Toshi remember the road and made it a more complex path. One crevice that Toshi had used to travel South provided a bridge by way of a collapsed tree. But, due to the shifting rocks, it had fallen and the detour took another four days to get around **

**I saw some movement ahead and quickly grabbed Toshi and dragged him behind some rocks on the side of the road. There was an ideal position were two boulders blocked the view from ahead and a smaller one offered shelter from behind.**

**The caravan traveled slowly through the ravine. Three ox drawn carts were heavy laden, almost too much so, with goods that they must have traded with the last village. There were six of them and most seemed to be in their prime I could hear them.**

**"Why did you pull me aside, they are just mercenaries and traders." Toshi said in a hushed voice.**

**"I have not had the best luck with merchants in the past; a group of Chinese merchants who were actually slavers captured me and held me for a few months. I managed to escape just before crossing the border." **

"**How did you manage to escape?"**

"**I had some help, I will tell you later. Right now just trust me that things are not always as they seem."**

"**I know what you mean." He said with a smirk. I gave him a quizzical look but he had turned his attention back to the caravan. **

**They were almost next to us. We slowed our breath and hunched over in the rocks. Their talking gave us a little bit of cover and distracted them from looking around. As the midpoint of the caravan aligned with our position behind the rock, the conversations of the men.**

"**We have not had any problems up to now," Said one man closest to us. "Do you think we will make it this time?"**

"**I hope not" said another from across the wagon. "We did not have any luck last time and I doubt that it means there are fewer thieves around."**

"**I guess they are getting wise about us."**

"**Either that or they are setting a trap."**

"**That would at least make things interesting. Go ahead of me, I need to take a piss."**

**Toshi and I looked at each other, the place were we sat was just what the man was looking for; we needed to find a new place fast without being seen. I looked around but could not find anywhere' the area around our hideout was flat and offered no seclusion.**

**I was just about to call out our position so as not to surprise the man when Toshi put his hand over my mouth and motioned to the other side of the ravine. Hiding behind a rock, much as we were, a Tartar archer was aiming at one of the men. When he loosed the arrow it found its way right into its target's heart. Before the body hit the ground yells could be heard as Tartars began to pour over the cliffs: clearly a raiding party.**

**The man who needed to urinate quickly got back to the carts, Toshi and I watched as him and another man lifted up the furs covering their "cargo" and revealed that inside two more men were inside along with the weapons. All three carts contained the same.**

"**Well, that explains some things." Toshi said, "Look out!"**

**Two Tartars had spotted us and were closing in. We quickly drew our swords and counter attacked. They had the high ground which would give them some advantage if it would not have been for the steepness of the hills. A swing of my sword at eye level was low enough for him not to be able to block it, that plus the speed at which he was traveling. I caught him across the shins and he continued till he hit the boulder behind me. Toshi had fitted an arrow in his bow to fire at the archer. He hit him hard and the Tartar fell backwards spinning.**

**By now the Tartars had all reached the bottom and whoever the travelers were had started retaliating. I only got a quick glimpse at one of the ones who had been in the carts, he was a giant wielding a war hammer in one hand and a huge battle axe in the other and was cleaving men left and right. I turned back to my next attacker; this one was level with me both in terrain and mind. He took a slower approach and came at me from my left with a horizontal swing I blocked outward and lunged forward to try and reach his chest while it was open with a thrust. I found my mark but was off by an inch, it did not matter; a wound that close to the heart would bleed out in a matter of minutes. None the less the Tartar continued to fight; nonetheless, through realizing that his death was near he started to get more serious and used more strength in his attacks. I took me more effort to block the first few but little by little they were weakening. At last I got tired of playing around and waited for him to swing, I did a quick sidestepped the attack and brought my sword down on his back.**

**By the time I had finished with him there were only a few Tartars left. Those that were left were currently engaged with the "merchants". I made sure that there was not anyone around me before lowering my sword. I saw Toshi just in time for an incredible move; he ducked an attack and preformed a spin attack, amputating both his knees.**

**The battle was over, short as it was. Several dozen bodies Toshi walked over to me and was offering his hand "Well done, I thought that you might be a good fighter." We clasped hands and he yanked me behind him. I looked back to see an arrow through Toshi's right shoulder.**

"**Toshi!" The archer from on the cliff had managed to pull himself back up and gathered enough strength to pull the bow back. It was his last move cause after he had revealed his position was impaled by two arrows.**

**I caught Toshi before he hit the ground. The men came over and instead of threatening us, helped me carry Toshi back to the cart.**

"**Toshi, what the hell are you doing here." The big man came over to the cart where they laid Toshi down. "I thought you were far East of here. Who is this?"**

"**I got a little ahead of schedule. This is a friend, he calls himself Junchi." Toshi replied through gritted teeth. "How bad is it?"**

**A man I took to be a curer ripped the shirt open and looked at the wound. "Well it looks like you lucked out my friend, the arrow must not have had much force it merely passed the skin." He grabbed the arrow at the part nearest to Toshi's shoulder and yanked it out. Toshi yelled in pain for a moment then steadied his breathing. "We need to clean the wound but aside from that you will be okay."**

"**Thank you." Toshi said.**

"**Thank the sky father the man was weak enough not to kill you." The big man replied. He turned to me, his size dwarfing my own as a mountain diminishes an ant hill. His weapons had been returned to their respective holsters on either side of him but still gave off an aura of destruction by sight alone. He had one what looked to be plain clothes but I could see through a cut from the battle that underneath he wore chain mail, the splatters of blood adding to his savage look "So, Junchi, humph. The name sure fits. Mine is Yesurgui." His mouth spread to a wide smile as he offered his hand and I accepted it and his hand folded around me.**

"**Tell me what exactly happened here?" I asked just realizing how little since the last half hour made.**

"**Oh, yes. I must thank you for that," the man that had been taking a piss approached me. "I am Captain Targutai. I think we could have managed either way but assistance is always welcome. We are part of an organization that has been set out by the Khan to clear the roads of thieves such as these." He added emphasis by kicking a dead corpse.**

**I looked around and counted the dead: twelve Tartars and two Mongols. Men were going around and making sure that all the bodies were actually dead with a thrust to the heart. The archer's body was inspected as well and thrown down the ravine. Three arrows were sticking out of his chest.**

"**Report!" the captain called out. **

"**Munlik and Jebei are dead; Harguui and Toshi are both wounded but will recover. Thirteen Tartars dead."**

**The captain walked over to where the two bodies lay and stood next to the one I took to be the second man " Oh, Munlik, if only you would not have been right."**

"**Ironic how his last words were that of prophesy." Toshi was able to walk and came over to honor his dead friend. The rest of the group gathered around the bodies for a moment of silence. Mean while I stood behind looking on with interest; Toshi struck me as more of a loner, much like myself, but to see him along with his brothers in arms gave me a new perspective of him.**

"**Junchi," Toshi turned around to face me. His torn shirt revealed a necklace that hung at his chest level. As he worked towards me, I fixed I gaze upon it. I recognized it but was trying to remember where I had seen it. "Junchi, are you okay?"**

"**That symbol, I know it." I pointed at the necklace, trying to get the words through my mouth. "That's the symbol of …"**

"**Yes, it is." Junchi replied slowly. "This is the symbol of Arula, our father's tribe"**


	10. Chapter 10: Reunion

Chapter 10

Author's note: I would like to thank all my constant readers for you support. A quick request on my part is that you could please post more reviews, I enjoy getting feed back from my readers and it allows me to write better for you all, plus it would be nice if you could refer your friends to this. Thank you again, enjoy.

**Chapter 10**

Reunion

"It's me, Darmala; do you not recognize me now?" The man I had known as Toshi for the past few weeks was now a stranger, and yet he was more of a long lost friend. That was impossible, and yet here he sat, Now that I thought about it I realized that he was the spitting image of my father.

"But how is that, you … you should be dead." I stammered.

"I escaped, the men who attacked our clan first ran into father's raiding party. It was my first time joining them" We sat down; as he told the story I noticed he slowly became more and more downcast. "They hit us at night, we had just attacked an Oronar village that day; killed looted and burned. We had camped in the shadow of a cliff about half a day's journey from our village. Although we did not expect any attack from the Oronar, father posted two guards, heck of a lot of good it did us. The Chinese came quickly a few hours after we had all fallen asleep archers shot both the guards before they knew what happened. Fortunately it was second shift and the replacement guards saw what happened, they raised the alarm and every man picked up their weapons."

"How many were there. Did you get to fight?" I asked.

"Too many; at least a dozen archers and I have no idea how many there were. Father got me up and told me to ride back to the camp to warn everyone and get them to run, just in case our attackers knew where they were. It was dark and I got lost for a full three days; it was not till I found the Rock Fountain, remember it." The Rock Fountain was just that, a spring of water that sprouted out of a crevice on a cliff side, it was along the route that our clan took going south. "From there I got to the village in a day."

"That was long after Kasar and I left." I answered wishing now that we had stayed there to wait in case anyone else arrived. "We should have stayed there; maybe there were other survivors, maybe father …"

"No the Chinese would not have left him or anyone else alive." Darmala snuffed out my small hope. "I talked to Kasar; that is how I came to know you had survived.

"When?"

"A little over a year ago. I was returning from Japan and I stopped to reminiscence. He happened to be doing the same. He told me everything, my brother." He put his good arm on my shoulder and looked at me in the eyes; I could tell that he was talking about my vow.

"So what have you been doing in Japan all this time?" I asked

"Sorry to interrupt." Targutai approached us. "Toshi, we need to be heading back to the camp now, our patrol is complete so we are heading back. You know you are welcome to join us, you can ride in a cart till your arm gets better."

"Thank you, Targutai. I can still walk; however, I think I will take you up on that offer. Junchi, we can continue as we travel."

"Okay," yelled the captain. "Everybody, MOVE OUT!"

Although me and Darmala were allowed to ravel in a cart that also meant that we were not allowed to talk since the two of us were placed inside of a cart to give the pretence that there were only six people. Darmala was inside due to his leg but my worn, dirty garbs made me stand out amongst the clean ones that the "merchants" wore. Of course they did need to change after the ambush. The blood splattered clothing would not work really well to convince would-be robbers of their intended prey's innocence.

The caravan was not attacked anymore that day. Targutai attributed the reason to that there were not that many bands brave enough, or stupid enough as Yesurgui put it, to continue as long as groups like their patrolled the roads. After we had set up tent and fire, I found that besides being an excellent fighter, Yesurgui was a champion cook as well. Marmot stew was what I had been eating for almost all my life, but not since I had left Bortei's village had I had such good quality. Plus bread and mare's milk was provided; a delicacy for someone in my position. Darmala and I shared a fire along with Yesurgui and we took the time before lights out to catch up where we had left off.

"It must have been a day after your group was attacked since they got us at dawn;" I started telling my end. "Mother hid me among the bulrushes in the stream. I stayed there for a while and watched everyone slaughtered. But I could not stand doing nothing so I grabbed a stick from a nearby fire and attacked the leader, I actually stabbed him. Then he gave me this." I said pointing at the scar across my face.

"You attacked a man on horseback, with a stick?" Yesurgui sounded incredulous but who was he to argue. "So that is how you got that scar, it looks painful." He said holding it up too the light. The food was ready and he handed me a bowl. "It is my own recipe something I tried on day and it turned out pretty good." He said as I blew on it. It was good and he served my some more as I continued to relate my story

"Kasar found me unconscious after the attack and raised me for the next nine years, when I was fifteen I left Kasar and headed south for China. I reached a wall erected by the Chinese called The Great Wall. I was captured by a band of slavers pretending to be traders, much like yourselves." I motioned behind me to the ox carts that had been parked on the edge of camp.

"Is that what you were talking about earlier?" Darmala inquired.

"Yes, along with the help of other captives I was able to escape." I told the details of the operation to Darmala and Yesurgui, the latter seemed to grow more and more saddened as I reached the day of my escape. Darmala on the other hand seemed thrilled and proud to hear his little brother had done so well in face of adversity. "I killed all of them. Although they were Chinese, I still see them, their faces haunt me, I feel like they will always be a part of me."

"It is that way, brother. Yesurgui and myself have each seen our share of fighting and death. I too suffer from the consequences of killing." Darmala put a hand on Yesurgui's shoulder.

"It is late and I feel I need more sleep than usual." Yesurgui excused himself. "I will see you both in the morrow."

We nodded in response. I thought to myself that he seemed almost sad and his departure was more due to something that he preferred not to talk about than actual drowsiness.

"Enough talk about you," Darmala taught me. "It is my turn to brag. Seeing the camp destroyed I panicked and headed east. The North, from what I have heard, is desolate and covered with snow year round, China was to the south and nothing but deserts, not to mention Chinese, and mountains to the west. So I decided to go east towards the sea. It is a marvelous view, water for as far as the eye can see in every direction, and during the sun rise the sun's reflection bounces off the water making it seem to surface from under the water in a brilliant display of colors, you should see it sometime. Anyway, I went to Japan, an island nation, and joined a band of costal raiders, a small way of repaying my debt to the Chinese."

"They taught me a whole different style of fighting, they said it was a branch off of the samurai's style."

"What is a samurai?" I asked.

"The ultimate warrior, I have only met one and his swordplay is excellent. The stick to some code of honor and protect the common people."

"We could use some of those here." I replied, almost under my breath.

Darmala smirked. "For the first four years I was just a worker and I never left the boat. After that, when I was seventeen, I was allowed to participated in costal raids on Chinese ports and villages. We ransacked and killed with just as much ease as we got up in the morning. It was good money, but it was not very fulfilling. At the best we would get farmers with sharp sticks maybe the odd sword, but never any challenge." Darmala suddenly became dejected. "Till two years ago, somehow someone figured out where our next raid was going to be and sent a message to the magistrate of the providence. He, in turn, sent over two hundred soldiers to protect the village. We came in and beached the boat, entered the village and began to do what we did every time. But this time the houses were filled with Chinese soldiers, it was a slaughter. We had an advantage in skill but were outnumbered six to one. The four of us that survived the ambush escaped by swimming out to sea and then back in further up the coast, two of my partners drowned because of wounds."

"What happened to the other one who survived?" I asked.

"Well there we parted ways; he was Japanese and wished to return to his country. I preferred to return to my own country as well. Also I heard of Genghis Khan recruiting a horde and decided it was a good opportunity to fight some Chinese and hopefully some fair opposition, not to mention the chance of earning some money." His tone had a hint of sadness in it. I figured that the memory of his fallen comrades brought this.

"I hope that time comes soon." I said, hoping to cheer him up a bit.

"So do I, brother. So I interrupted your story telling what happened to you after the slavers?" I could tell by how quickly he changed the topic that he did not want to talk about it any longer.

I went on to explain my story all the time watching Darmala's countenance, which went unchanged through the rest of the tale. Those men had meant more to him then just comrades. "They were your family were they not?"

"What?" Darmala looked up.

"I know you are not listening, you have other things on your mind. I am sorry that you had to go through this again."

"No, they were not, they were… my family. My new one after we lost ours. I wanted a chance to redeem myself, give myself another chance to protect my family again. But when the time came – I failed, again!" He pounded his fist against the ground.

"It was not your fault; you said it yourself, you were outnumbered."

"Numbers do not make a victory, skill does." He retaliated on the verge of tears. Darmala was trying to dig himself in deeper in his misery; something I was not going to let happen.

"Stop blaming yourself. Do you not think that each of them fought with the same intent?" I had no real idea but I figured it was as good argument as any. My brother was really lamenting something that was out of his control, and it looked like it was tearing him apart. All these years of wandering alone I though I had it bad; and here Darmala sat someone who had gone through the same as I had, but twice, I truly felt pity for him. "Come brother we should get some rest."

"One last thing, Kasar is dead; he was in his last days. If he still lives it will be a miracle. He gave me the duty of telling you your name."

"As soon as I avenge our clan, I know." I t felt so strange to say this since for years it had been only me, now Darmala was with me.

"No, you do not have to."

"What!" I was shocked, I did not have to "How is that, I need to kill the man you destroyed our clan, the man who carries this mark." I showed him me left arm; where I had carved the Chinese symbol that stood for everything I hated.

"The thing is. As the eldest, the firstborn it is my duty, Kasar made me go through the ritual you took when you made the oath." Darmala spoke of a simple ceremony where a man made an oath to another and sealed it with blood; a symbol that your spirit and soul are attached to it. "You are free to do what you will, Temunjin."

Think how it must feel, to hear your name spoken for the first time in over fifteen years. I had managed to completely forget it. Without a name I could not settle down and marry, what name would I pass on? But now I could. Temunjin of the Arula clan, I could return to Shira. But, what sense of accomplishment would I have.

"Would you allow me to join you, if I cannot extract revenge I can at least help you?" I asked knowing that I could never live with myself if I did not at least help in the mission that my brother now held.

"It would honor me to have you by me side, my brother."

That night I slept more peacefully and with more ease than I could remember. Everything was perfect: a part of my family had been restored to me along with my honor, not to mention I was one step closer to Shira.


	11. Chapter 11: Ulaan Baatar

**Chapter 11**

Ulaan Baatar

The rest of the trip was considerably faster, given the luxury of the ox carts. They allowed us to periodical rest periods to conserve our strength. By the second day the covers for the carts, which turned out to be a layer of muskrat, marmot, and sheep fur laid over a wooden cover, were removed. Targutai stated that the area was under the protection of another caravan and from there on out they were in charge and we could take a rest.

During this time Darmala and I spent as much time possible getting to know what had happened in the years of our separation. Though the memories of his comrades' death were painful he told me many stories of their exploits and adventures.

"What ever happened to that girl was promised to you?" I asked recalling the times my lesser brothers and I had made fun of Darmala for his engagement.

"I honestly have no idea. Her name was Bortei Kara, I visited her village with father once, but I never saw her in person. Father said that we would make a good couple and bring honor to both families." His eyes stared off into the darkness as he spoke those words. "The raid when father and the others were slaughtered was supposed to be my last before I was going to be married, ironically enough it was my last with father. I did not even go back to Bortei's village, maybe after we have avenged our families' death and we return to the steppes I will go and see if her father's offer stands. I would not blame him for giving her to another man, I left without a word and for all they know I could be dead. You mentioned a girl in that village you stayed at, tell me about her."

"Since I was seriously injured during the fight, I was forced to stay in the village for a year while I recovered. During that time I was attended by a beautiful woman named Shira Sorgan." I smiled to myself; Shira was not something that I wanted to talk about, not tat she was not constantly on my mind, however. "She was the daughter of the village's chief, Targuarti Sorgan, and was thus I entrusted in her care, it was she who made this coat from the wolf that I killed. The day that I left, her father offered me her hand in marriage, but I denied the offer."

"Tell me about her." Darmala asked. "What was she like?"

"She was as beautiful as the sunrise against the ocean, and as gentle as a spring breeze. She had eyes as blue as the sky after a storm and her hair was a dark brown." I fought hard to find words to describe something I thought could only be known and not described. "When she approached she smelled of autumn when the leaves have fallen and her skin was as soft as that of a newborn babe. And her smile could lighten my heart even on the dreariest days. I have never felt the way I feel for her before. I wanted to stay, but I could not"

"If she is as beautiful as you say, I do not see why you did not stay there." Yesurgui said. He seemed to always be around Darmala and thus was constantly with me.

"I had a duty and had sworn to fulfill it before I could ever do such a thing." I said. How many times and to how many people had I said this to before? "I had to avenge our family, we both do, and if I would have stayed I could not have done that."

"Do you love her?" Yesurgui asked.

"Love?" I responded, I had pondered over that very question various times with the same answer. "I do not know. I have not lived a life long enough, or even full enough, to know what love truly is. But, if I ever did love a woman it would be Shira."

"I am proud of you" Darmala gave me a playful punch "Although I wish you would have stayed, you might have lived a happy life there. I too had to make such a choice after our family was slaughtered, but I failed; instead of avenging our family I was satisfied with living out my life as I pleased. I even changed my name to try and forget where I came from; to avoid my duty."

"I guess it was a good thing that I survived." I said still playing with him. "Or you might have never got on the horse."

"That is why I thank the gods for what happened to my ship. It was a wake up call for me."

The trip took four more days, as we got closer to Ulan Baatar more and more groups joined us, most fit the profile of traders and merchants (a group of people I never have really been able to trust). But eventually families and entire clans appeared on the road.

"Look there, Temunjin." Yesurgui was pointing in the distance. We had just reached a hill top, I looked in direction his large hand showed. In the distance, just below the horizon, the faint outline of a thousand yurts could be seen along with the equally numerous trails of smoke that sneaked into a huddled mass in the sky. I had finally arrived at Ulaan Bataar: the camp of Genghis Khan.

We managed to reach the gates at midday, though the camp was composed of mobile yurts a defensive barrier of wooden posts had been ringed around it, each spaced out enough for a man with a bow to get through. The wall was about three meters high, though it dipped in places, and had been angled outwards slightly. The gate was two simple wooden doors that could not weigh more than a hundred kilograms each.

When compared to Shira's village this was a metropolis, life seemed to run totally randomly; people hurried back and forth carrying water, tools and baskets. Things were in apparent disarray which contrasted with the clean kept roads back at the village, also the addition of several repulsive smells not worth mentioning the source of. Our caravan slowly spit away from the rest as different clans separated to their own areas as we traveled towards to military section.

The camp itself had two sections: the common section and the military. The common section was mainly for families and those who were not actually soldiers, blacksmiths and the like. It circled all the way around the camp. The military section, on the other hand, was solely military. The men here were the unmarried or were drifters like Darmala and I. The only yurt that whose occupants were other was the Khan's, which stood out like a log in the haystack that the camp was. His sat in the very middle of the camp with a clear view east, unblocked, towards the sunset

"When we get to our yurt you will have to register." Targutai spoke to me for the first time in days. He was a rather silent type; he was not shy, he just liked to avoid conversations. "Get someone to lead you over there then come back here."

I looked around my surroundings, trying to figure out where "here" actually was. It was like being in the middle of a forest were everything looks alike, except here there was also people and animals moving around.

"I will take him. Just to make sure they do not give him any trouble."

I looked back at Yesurgui, "Why would there be any trouble?"

"You will see, come it is this way."

We walked towards the middle of the camp right into a yurt that sat adjacent to the Khan's. Inside there was a very simple set-up: everything that could be counted as living accommodations had been neatly stacked against the walls and in the middle of the room a group of five people sat, one of which was scratching on the back of a sheep skin with a feather; a most curious sight.

"I have another one for Dai Sechen." Yesurgui said to announce our arrival, not that his massive figure entering did not tell them otherwise. Not a very orthodox way of entering another's house. Usually one would go up to the tent and announce your presence from outside or speak to whoever of the household happened to be inside. The men did not seem to mind, or at least they did not let on.

"Name." Said the man closest to me. He had pulled out another sheep skin and I could see now that small symbols were being drawn on it.

"Temunjin Sengun." I said thinking how weird it was to say that name; it was mine again.

He repeated the name after me. "What is your age?"

"Just turned eighteen." I told him, I was pretty sure this was true. I had not really kept track over my life since there was no one to celebrate my birthday with, at worse I was only seventeen.

Shira had once asked me about this, on the day that the village celebrated her birthday. Me, not being a social person, stayed in my spot waiting for Shira till after the party when we could talk by ourselves.

"I do not really know the exact day, barely the season; I believe it is during early spring." I said.

"That has to be sad not knowing how old you are." She said with a tone of sadness.

"Oh do not worry about that," I said trying to cheer her up, she would often display her feelings openly instead of holding them in as I did. "I do know how old I am, more or less at least."

I was brought back to the present by Yesurgui's raised voice, "That's enough! I will not let you talk that way about him."

I stood between five men on the ground and a giant on his feet, not a very comfortable situation. The two groups stared at each other for a few seconds before I broke the silence. "Come Yesurgui, I think that it is time to return."

It took me a few tugs but eventually I managed to get him to move. We walked in silence back to the yurt, more like Yesurgui stormed and I had to jog to keep up. We made the trip in less than half the time it had taken us before. When we got to the Yurt, Yesurgui pushed aside the cover flap and entered. I was a good three meters behind and by the time I got inside half the inhabitants were trying to restrain Yesurgui. It took four men holding him down on the ground one of his arms reaching for his war axe.

"They were doing it again." Yesurgui was yelling.

"Just calm down." Targutai was saying. "And then we can talk about what happened.

Despite their best efforts, however, Yesurgui was winning.

"Captain, permission to disable him." A soldier said who was trying to hold the colossus from behind.

"Permission granted, Mukuli."

Mukuli quickly went around to where Yesurgui's war hammer rested, picked it up then used the flat end on its owners back. The first blow did not have any effect, the second, however, rendered the victim unconscious.

After helping move the boulder of human muscle into his corner I was asked what had happened, to which I promptly responded that I had no idea though it appeared that the rest knew what was going on.

"Dai Sechen has been with the Khan since the beginning almost. He joined the Khan when he was still gathering drifters like us." Darmala explained to me. "He is a brilliant man and is loyal to his khan. Currently he is in charge of just us eight and another group."

"How come he has such a small amount? I asked.

"I had a confrontation with the other generals." All heads turned towards the entrance where the man I took to be Dai Sechen stood. Everyone stood, myself a little late, and Dai Sechen motioned for them to. "I take it you are Darmala's brother, Temunjin?

"I am" I said.

""Well you do look like your brother. I am Dai Sechen, general to the Khan and leader of the Elite."

"The Elite?" I echoed.

"That is the name that we call ourselves." Targutai said. "I wanted to wait for Dai Sechen to tell you. We do special secret missions for the Khan that requires special attention and skill."

"Either way, you are under me now; welcome to the Elite."


	12. Chapter 12: The Elite

**Chapter 12**

The Elite

The sun was just rising over horizon, and shone through the holes in the fabric, allowing the cold morning air in. I looked around to see most of my tent-mates had already left; Darmala, Targutai, and Dai Sechen amongst them. Yesurgui's bulk was still asleep in his bed from the previous night. I got up and put on my gear. A pot of rabbit stew was sitting over a small fire that was keeping it and the rest of the tent warm. Some bowls were sitting next to the fire in two assorted piles; I took one of the clean ones to serve myself. From beyond the yurt I could hear the sound of people and animals walking back and forth, some talking. I looked at the yurt's interior and wondered how many men I was sharing it with. I counted nine blankets, most still occupied, lined up against the walls and there was space for at least three or four more in the middle.

As I ate, I was joined by a few others who I had not yet been introduced to. One introduced himself to me as Holoem; he seemed to be armed with no more than a dagger and a short sword at his side. We continued to eat as he explained the Elite to me

"There are a total of twelve us and we are separated into four teams." He said. "For example, I am in team C and I am paired up with Sansar and Gansukh, they already left. Gansukh is the team leader and he answers to Targutai who in turn answers to Dai Sechen. In each of our groups our skills are balanced; mine is … special, but you will find out about that later, Sansar is an archery expert, and Gansukh is what we call a 'General' in other words his is skilled in many areas."

"I take it you are Temunjin?" A Japanese man dressed in a plain black turban spoke up.

"I am, and you are." I asked back trying to remember when he sat down.

"I am Seguder, my expertise is subtlety I am in team B with Targutai and Ghoyuqan." He answered curtly.

"Are you …"

"Yes, I am Japanese. I accompanied Dai Sechen back from Japan. Unlike him I am Japanese. I trained under the same sensei as he did and decided to come to this land when he left."

Eventually Yesurgui awoke. He sat up quickly as he remembered the previous night. Immediately, the three of us rushed to stop him before he went on another rampage.

"Stop," He yelled. "I have calmed down."

We all let out a sign of relief; the three of us had no chance of actually stopping him. He joined us around the fire to warm himself with some stew. We included him in our conversation which had now turned to when people were saying that we would be moving out. I came to discover over the next few months that this was a favorite topic amongst the horde.

Following our meal, we grabbed our gear, suited up, and followed Yesurgui who was going to show me where I would be training for the rest of my stay. Fields surrounded the better part of Ulaan Baatar's walls with a river on one side that housed a forest on the other side. A large portion to the south had been dedicated to training.

"This is the Training Field." Yesurgui said.

"Very adequately named." I remarked.

"I tried to get them to call it the Playground." Holoem had come up besides me. "But the name did not catch on so it stayed this way."

"Like pretty much everything else here, the training field has separate parts. You will not take part in most since Dai Sechen has us train separately from the others across the river.' He pointed at the forest and a small rope bridge that traversed it.

"Do not forget what day today is, Yesurgui." Holoem interjected.

"Which is that?" Yesurgui scratched his head in thought.

"One word: _War Day_." Holoem said with the most evil and foreboding grin he could muster.

"That is two words." I said, ruining his impression which he dropped suddenly. "Either way what is it?"

"See, the entire army is divided in to groups battalions have 10,000 men, companies 1,000, platoons 100 and squads 10." Holoem explained. "For War Day these groups are placed on two different "teams" and we had a battle. Of coarse real weapons are not used but you still can get hurt and people still do die occasionally."

"Some people get carried away." Yesurgui said overshadowing Holoem.

"It was an accident I swear. I do not see how it is that you never cause more than a cracked rib." Holoem shielded himself with his arms if Yesurgui's words were damaging.

"He is careful." said Seguder as Yesurgui started to cross the field through the masses of people that were standing around waiting to be told what to do.

Holoem and I followed in his wake to a canvas that was being held up by four poles. Dai Sechen and several of the generals were sitting around a map laid on the floor. They appeared to be planning a strategy. I recognized three of them from the previous night as they shifted uneasily when they noticed Yesurgui.

"Ah you finally woke up Yesurgui." Dai Sechen said as he rose. He excused himself from the others and joined us outside of the canvas. He approached Yesurgui and whispered "I trust you have calmed down?"

"Yes sir," he responded looking down.

"Good, Temunjin. I take it these men have introduced them selves so I will cut to the chase. We will not be joining the battle."

"What." Shouted Holoem, "I have thirty pieces of silver on this battle that I will knock out more than Kururt."

"Give it a rest Holoem." Seguder said calmly. He turned to Dai Sechen, "why are we not participating today? Were you not planning along with the other Generals?"

"Actually, I was. Some figured that it would be helpful. Anyways, General Hekt has just informed me that our skills are needed. Yesurgui you come with me, I want you two to head back to the yurt and tell any of the others that you see on the way like wise. I will be there shortly."

We got back to our yurt just as four others were coming out. The six of us went inside and waited for the rest.

"Are the missions usually this sudden?" I asked Holoem once we sat down; he was pacing the room back and forth muttering under his breath. He ignored me or did not hear me. Rather, Kasar, another member I had not yet met answered me.

"Yes sometimes we do not even get a chance to come back here to get our equipment. We just mount up and go." He was waxing the string of his bow as he talked to me, which I took to mean that he was another bowman like Sansar. "I saw that you have a bow as well as a sword, I guess that means you are taking Munlik's place as team D's general, right?"

I was about to answer when I realized that I did not actually have an answer to the question. "I do not know really, I just got here yesterday and Holoem just explained to me the whole deal."

"Oh," he responded, he gave the thought a moment and then continued with his bow, a little slower "Well I heard that Munlik died three days back, sad; all of us are really going to miss him. Either way he does need to be replaced, Yesurgui and Darmala can hold their own I guess but you need to have three."

I was about to ask more of Kasar's background when Dai Sechen walked in accompanied by the three team leaders. "Sorry to keep you waiting. We will leave as soon as I have finished explaining our mission, so make any last preparations before we have to leave."

Experience had taught the members of the Elite to start doing this as soon as a mission was assign and most such as Kasar were almost ready. Dai Sechen had already explained the mission to the team leaders so they were free to gather their gear. I noticed that Dai Sechen already appeared to be fully

"This is a secret mission so no bragging about it later Holoem." The receiver of the warning as still sulking a little in his corner of the tent, he did, however, acknowledge his leader's order with a nod before returning to what he was doing.

"The Sacaeans are a Mongol tribe that has been hesitant to join the horde. In recent months their wavering loyalty has been questioned and now affirmed. Three days ago the tribe attacked and killed another, wiping out everyone. The deceased Tribe was that of Nakhu Bayan, the famous trader.

The name sounded familiar, I remembered that name I had met Bayan's son when the Chinese slavers captured my two years ago, it seemed like forever ago. As Dai Sechen continued I was pulled out of my trance.

"Our mission is to investigate the matter and verify whether this information is correct. If so then we are to proceed to destroy them. Any questions before we leave."

"Where are Darmala, Mukuli, and Ghoyuquan, sir?" Kasar asked.

"They are acting scouts right now, they left ten minutes ago. We will join them tomorrow at the site of the last attack and move on from there."

I raised my hand. "Sir, were there any survivors?"

"A few men were in another village at the time, they are the ones who informed us of this betrayal."

"Betrayal?" Echoed Holoem, rising out of his sulking.

"There is a chance," Dai Sechen said slowly. "That the Sacaeans are being bribed to do this. My contacts in China have said that the Tai Lung are trying some new tricks as of late; they were not specific as to what they were up to but this seems to clear the waters a bit."

Yesurgui had sat down besides me as he sharpened his axe; he leaned over and whispered in my ear. "The Tai Lung a secret organization, much like ourselves, controlled by the government. They are the reason the Khan let Dai Sechen form the Elite."

"Do you run into them often?" I asked. Seguder was asking Dai Sechen questions about the situation.

"Every now and them, Dai Sechen thinks that they are behind everything that we run into. Personally I disagree but there is no proof either way."

I was going to ask another question when Dai Sechen ordered us to follow him. It was time to go. We walked out of the yurt, fully armed and ready for battle. Anyone who saw us stopped what they were doing and stared at the group of soldiers that were casually but purposely walking through the camp. A few children ran alongside of us, trying to copy our strides by taking overly large steps. Those that managed to keep up the pace without falling down succeeded in looking like storks.

Stables were located at each cardinal point next to the gates. Each of us were given two Mustang Ponies, except Yesurgui who was given a two horses to account for his size as we mounted I tried to remember back to when I was a child; though I was very young the last time that I mounted a pony, no older than six. I felt like the most natural thing, even if it took a while to fully adjust. The ride would take us a whole day, and while that distance is no problem for Mongolians, I did not fit into that category. I knew I would be hurting that night when we would finally rest.

During the ride no one talked. Dai Sechen as leading the pack. With his back to me I could not see his expression, however, I knew his, just like the rest of ours, was lamenting. Here our people were forming into a single nation, under one banner, one leader; and one tribe rebelled. These men that we would fight were our own brethren, turned against us. I had killed Mongols before in this same situation, back at Shira's village, but that did not mean that I wanted to do so again. This was why the ride was silent. Seguder was the only one who was not solemn on his own account. I could see in his eyes that he looked forward to fighting but lamented for his brothers in arms and joined for their sakes.

When night came and we made camp the pain was there. It was not as bad as I remembered it being the first time. Since there was no need to hide our presence we lit three fires to warm ourselves. Dai Sechen relied on Gansukh to pick the location which turned pout to be in the shadow of some cliffs. Supper was meat and milk paste, dried milk to which water had been added creating a pate that could be stored and lasted a long time before going bad. I found my pony had been packed with all that I would need for this journey, I figured that Dai Sechen had them being loaded as he was presenting the mission to us. Each of us took out of sleeping bags and set them around the fire. All this was done in silence.

The night was meant to be peaceful, a calm before the storm. Above us the stars and a half moon shone, offering a little light. But before anyone was allowed to sleep, Targutai, who was assigned first guard, called out that riders were approaching. Instantly everyone picked up their weapons, conveniently kept next to us.

"How many?" Dai Sechen called out.

"I count two, no there are three." Targutai responded. In the distance I heard three sharp whistles, had I not been alert I might not have even noticed. Targutai responded with the three at the same pitch.

"It's your brother." Yesurgui said as we watched the newcomers approach. "Three whistles is a sign of greeting to make sure that any of us do not approach another camp that might be in the area. The response is two for danger three for safe."

Two whistles came from the riders.

"What does that mean?" I asked with a little worry, the others were beginning to pack their.

"That means trouble." Yesurgui said turning from me and proceeding to pack like the rest leaving me to simply follow their example. The first two riders split right through the camp; the third was a good twenty feet behind. Though I only got a glimpse it looked like whoever was on the pony was carrying someone else.

"Hurry up, Temunjin!" I heard Darmala's voice call off from the pony.

The more seasoned members of the Elite were able to get all their gear repacked in those few seconds while the rest of us could only gather our weapons and mount our ponies. I was the second to last out only to Dai Sechen waiting to make sure that no one was left behind. I looked over my shoulder as I emptied the campsite. Several lights could now be seen in the distance. I guessed maybe thirty or forty riders, nearly triple our number.

Dai Sechen came up besides me. "It looks like our scouts found some friends."

"What is going on?" I asked breathing hard as I urged my pony onwards.

"Your brother must have been seen by the enemy. I have seen him take on three men at a time so they must have run into a large scouting party which has since gotten bigger."

"So what do we do now?" I asked. I looked at the ground and wondered how the ponies could even see where they were stepping in the darkness.

"We fight back!" Dai Sechen said. Even without issuing a command the rest of the squad knew what to do. Two riders sped past me going towards our pursuers, Sansar and Kasar we loading their bows and firing. At the same time I watched as four of those in front of me started to veer to the left and another four to the right, neither taking their extra mounts with them but rather letting a ninth rider lead them on. Dai Sechen motioned for me to follow him in to the right.

Behind us the archers were letting arrow after arrow fly towards the enemy, occasionally cutting one down; effective as it was they would not be able to bring the whole group down just like that. Both forward groups turned around and began to form a pincer movement. The natural reaction was to stay together and push through the two by a feint retreat through the two forces and then doubling back to meet them head on, had it been day they would be using bows but the lack of light allowed only those skilled as our archers to see. All in all it was a good strategy; unless your enemy is counting on that.

As the both flanks closed on our prey, the enemy was just about to circle around when all of a sudden the forward half of the party was dismounted and thrown a couple meters as their mounts hit the floor. The remaining half either ran into the fallen animals or managed to stay atop their ponies. It did not matter either way, before they were able to recover from whatever had happen the Elite were upon them. The few still riding had a chance for a decent fight; however, those on the ground could do nothing but run as our ponies cut in and out, slaughtering more with each pass.

My first target was still scrambling on the ground, looking around for his fallen weapon. I leaned towards my right while holding on to the reigns with my left had and swung. I tried not to think who or what he was; all that mattered was that he was my enemy. I felt the warm wetness of my blade meeting flesh and pulled myself back up, searching for another enemy.

Between strikes of my own I was able to catch glimpses of Dai Sechen fighting as I followed him in our formation. He had drawn a second sword and was swinging them from one side to the other killing anything that came within range. How he managed to remain seated is a testament of Mongol skill at horse riding.

The hardest part of the attack was making sure not to run into another member of the Elite. Another rider and I almost ran into each other as we attacked the same victim. The fact that we were on the same side told me that is was Gansukh, the only left hander on the squad. Our ponies saw the potential collision before we did and both pulled away to different directions I turned to see if Gansukh was taking the kill only to find the man in question had an arrow protruding from his chest.

After coming out of that run I turned around to see a rider charging towards me, at first I thought it might be Yesurgui since it was a horse rather than a pony, but the figure was far too small to be him. I barley had time to react to his strike. I raised my sword to defend myself but I did not have the sufficient strength in it to block the attack. My sword was sent spinning into the night though I did hear it sink into the ground. Now having lost my sword I was at a great disadvantage. After fallowing through with the attack my opponent make a quick turn and started to charge again. My pony had been trained not to be fazed when things like swords clashing happened around them. He kept running as well. I pulled him around while trying to draw the most bizarre thing I could think of any thing that did not involve me getting killed or my having to call for help worked.

What I came up with could have worked or not, it was a gamble, but it was also the only thing I had left. Both of us charged again, we were far enough away from the subsiding fighting to allow us clearance. When I judged the distance right, I leapt off my pony towards my enemy. The sudden move left him paralyzed just long enough for me to pull my knife to my chest. He did not have the time to react; our bodies collided and fell to the ground. I stood up next to the Mongol, his eyes rose from the object imbedded in his chest to meet mine.

"Well that's something." He said trying to rise but failing. "Beaten by a whelp."

I did not pull out my sword, he would not rise to continue the fight; it was over. I looked around to make sure I was not being sneaked up on.

"Let me say something before I go." He continued. "You should know this. Their leader, the Chinese leader's name is Sao Lin. He forced us to follow him." He reached to pull out the knife, I stopped him; he would die faster if it were removed and I wanted to hear him out. "They kidnapped our women and children, said they would kill them unless we did what they said. To show they were serious an example was made of the men who refused; half our tribe was killed, we were all that was left."

I stared down at the dying man at my feet. An hour ago I believed him to be a bloodthirsty killer just waiting to kill. Now I see that all of us were wrong the real enemy was the Chinese; they had controlled the whole event. Now Mongols were killing our own again. Three whistles from behind me matched by others told me the battle had been won.

"I-I fa…failed her." He was going into shock; he started to stutter as he issued his final words. "Please, I be-beg … beg you. Spare my w…wife, Lerht."

I did not know what to say. I knew we would have to kill them all; no seeds could be left to grow resilience even if they were innocent those were our orders. Nonetheless I could not help seeing my father's face in his, just trying to protect his tribe, his family. I wondered if he had asked the same of the Chinese who murdered him. I nodded.

He reached again for his chest though instead of the knife he pulled off a necklace that he was around his neck and placed it in my hand. It was a small bow the size of whet stone carved from bone, there seemed to be a place to put an arrow. "She-e has… the other part. Please … tell her I lo-loved her."

With that his hand dropped from mine. I looked at the necklace and thought of the man I had just killed. Though it was in the heat of battle it now felt like I had done so in cold blood. With the fighting having finished the sound of silence seemed to engulf me; a hand was placed on my shoulder. It was Darmala's.

"I heard what he said." He said in a hushed voice.

"Do you think he was lying?" I asked, still looking at what was in my hand.

"The eyes tell no lies. A true Mongol would never use his last words to spin words of deceit."

"I guess you are right." I took one more look at the necklace and then put it in my pocket. "Come we need to tell this to Dai Sechen. This changes everything."


	13. Chapter 13: The Necklace

**Chapter 13**

The Necklace

I turned to see Darmala's pony behind him and sitting on it was a young boy maybe ten years of age. The child was conscious but didn't seem to be paying any attention to what was going around him.

"Where did the boy come from?" I asked Darmala, I was still in a half trance and wanted something to distract me.

"He was a survivor that we found wandering nearby what was left of the tribe. He hasn't said anything; he does what we tell him but…" I understood. He was paralyzed with fear. I had suffered the same when my tribe had been killed.

"So no one else survived?"

"No, my guess is that they left this kid alive to leave a message. Dai Sechen tells me it is a form of mind warfare."

"A single live witness tells the story with better details than a thousand dead ones." It made sense, if the child ever spoke his description of what had transpired would be more horror ridden than any of us could think since the scenes would be playing in his mind over and over again.

I walked over to him, to try and give him some comfort. I saw he still had blood on his cloths and a bandage on his left arm. I tried to look intro his face but he was looking at his hands gripping his mount's mane.

"Do not worry kid." I said. His head jerked up immediately and faced me.

"You, you're that guy." He was about to continue when his eyes fell into his head and he started to fall towards me. I stepped forward to catch him.

"He must be exhausted." Darmala said. "We found him a few hours ago but I think he has been walking around for a long while before."

We returned to where we had first set up camp. The sun was just coming over the horizon, casting red and orange colors across the clouds. As the previous day's travel all were downcast. Darmala took it upon himself to let Dai Sechen know of the circumstances. I carried him back to where the others were gathered. All but the two who had found the boy looked at the three of us quizzically. Holoem reached into his pony's pack and pulled out a blanket to lay the boy on. I placed him gently on the blanket and stepped back.

"Who is this?" Dai Sechen walked through the group surrounding the child.

"His name is Kachung." I said before Darmala could report.

"You know him?"

"You could say he saved my life." The memory of his and Jebei's rocks pelting my would-be killer flooded my mind. The archer was about to kill me when they distracted him. Kachung had taken the arrow that was intended for me. I remembered being mad at him, back then I had still wanted to die. My purpose in life was not one that I would have chosen. But then, had he not done so I wouldn't have met Shira nor would I have been reunited with my brother.

Since I was not an official member of the Elite, Dai Sechen didn't give me any task other than to take care of Kachung and help Mukuli to check on the wounded. Mukuli was an expert in treating injuries and coming up with concoctions for almost any illness. Apart from minor cuts and bruises, the only injury had been on Sansar's part who had taken an arrow to the shoulder, which he dismissed as a simple scratch.

"You can't fire a bow in that condition; you can barely lift your hand." I said. "How do you expect to fight?"

"The mission is over; it will heal before we get another." Sansar asked.

"That might not be true." Holoem came over. He continued in a hushed voice. "I overheard Dai Sechen talking to the squad leaders of another stage. Do you know anything?"

I nodded. "The Sacaeans were being forced to do the things they did by the Tai Lung; they are holding the women and children hostage."

"That would explain why Seguder left ten minutes ago." Sansar commented. "He is our best tracker and would be able to find where they went in the rain."

"Those dirty son of bi…"

"That's enough Holoem." Yesurgui cut him off. "Help me take care of the bodies, and Dai Sechen says no pilfering."

The corpses were piled a little ways off from the new camp. I watched as one by one the twenty five Mongols were thrown on top of others. The bodies were to be burned as there was no other means of disposing of them, though as a sign of respect the remains were not looted. They would keep their belongings with them in the afterlife.

"Is that all of them?" Yesurgui called out. Everyone looking around called out clear. All of those in the immediate area had been picked up. But I knew there was one more.

"Sansar, watch the boy for a moment, okay."

"Sure, where are you going?"

I ignored his question as I walked. The last man lay by himself in the grass. Somehow I felt as if I had known him all my life although it had been during the last moments of his; I didn't even know his name.

I put one hand under his back and the other under his legs. Husband to Lerht. That was all I could address him as. He considered his wife's name to be more important than his own; it showed how devoted he was to her. That is how a husband should be, caring, loving, sacrificing himself for her. I wondered as I walked towards the pile if I could be this devoted to Shira. A voice in my head screamed yes but all the death that seemed to follow me around haunted the question.

The bodies had been piled high enough that I could not lay him at the top. Instead I laid him against the side. The necklace was tied around my wrist. I untied it and held it in the palm of my hand. It was a well made piece, whoever had made it put a good deal of dedication in making it. The maker had smoothed it to give the finished look that a real bow had and even included the string, most likely some type of twine.

"Temunjin. We need to burn them." Yesurgui said, he saw the necklace in my hand and who I was looking at. "Who was that, did you know him?"

"No I didn't." I answered as I stood. I retied the necklace to my arm underneath my sleeve to protect it.

After setting the bodies on fire we had to move the camp a bit farther away, Dai Sechen decided the previous night's site would do fine. The smell of death is unpleasant enough but when a corpse burns the stench is overwhelming. Moving Kachung was the only problem since he had not woken up yet, though it was quickly resolved as Yesurgui lifted him effortlessly and carried him all the way without a single complaint.

Darmala and Ghoyuquan left immediately heading westwards, I assumed to catch up with Seguder. When we reached the campsite everyone just seemed to lie about and do nothing. I noticed the contrast with how quickly and smoothly everything when the previous night as everyone moved to and fro doing their pre-assigned tasks, maybe they knew we would not be there long so there was no need for a full camp.

"Okay here's the deal." Dai Sechen said; gall heads looked at him. "We aren't sure what is going on. It is possible that the Sacaeans were being forced to do what they did. If that is the case then I am going to change our orders a bit."

"Are you sure, sir?" Kasar said. "That kind of attitude is what got you in this situation". I figured he was referring to Dai Sechen's problem with the other generals.

"My status isn't as important as a hundred lives." Several heads nodded their agreement. "If the intelligence is wrong however, we will proceed as ordered. You all may have realized I dispatched Darmala, Ghoyuquan, and Seguder to find them. We will have to act quickly as the men's absence could provide the Chinese with an excuse for killing some, if not all of their hostages. We will leave as soon as they get back."

He continued to give a quick explanation of how the mission would be carried out leaving spaces to be filled later once the whole situation was know. After the briefing everyone dispersed, some tried to get any amount of rest that they could others cleaned their blades and checked their equipment. I was about to try to get some sleep when Dai Sechen called me over.

"Yes, sir." I responded as I approached him.

"This mission is you first with us and as such I would normally leave you behind to tend to the wounded, the boy and Sansar in this case. However, seeing as Sansar is one of the wounded we need someone to take his place. So you are going to serve as his replacement under me, this will be your test, to see if you can be an Elite."

I had not actually thought of it before now. Sure I didn't consider myself a member of the Elite but at the same time I didn't really know why I was there. Now that Dai Sechen had told me I was resolved to do my best.

"I have a question, sir." I asked before Dai Sechen could leave. "It is about the mission."

"What is it?" He answered. "Is there something that you don't understand?"

"No. It is more of a request." I responded. I recounted to him the conversation between the man and myself. He had heard most of it for Darmala but not this part. "So I promised that we would spare his wife. I wasn't thinking but I promised…"

"Don't worry, Temunjin." Dai Sechen put his hand on my shoulder. "I don't think that you have to worry, for what you and Darmala say the man seemed to be telling the truth. But if it does come to that he lied to you so…"

He did not finish. I believe because he did not want to, either he did not believe in the answer or he did not want to. He left me to check on each soldier individually. I watched him go to and fro, from man to man; he even checked up on Kachung with Mukuli. This man was a born leader, I could see why the others followed him with such enthusiasm.

It was another hour or so before the scouts returned. Whistles were exchanged signaling no danger. The report was made openly to best get the information to the men. It seemed that the women and children were being held in the yurts while the guards patrolled around.

"We counted forty men but judging by the number of sergeants that we saw there could be double that amount. If they exist we don't know where they are. Plus it seems that they are executing the hostages one by one." Gansukh seemed disgusted. "We saw seven bodies, some women some children, hanging from a tree, by now there could be more."

I heard Holoem mutter something under his breath.

"We think the men of the village were on a timetable. If they didn't return by a certain time the Chinese would start killing their families; maybe one every hour. We saw at least three women and two children dead."

"And sir." Darmala added. "_His_ seal was on the tents."

"He's talking about General Cao Lin. He is the leader of the Tai Lung, think of Dai Sechen's nemesis." Yesurgui leaned down and whispered to me quickly. "He is an evil and cruel man whose sole desire is to destroy the Mongols."

"Okay men." Dai Sechen stood in the middle of the group. "The Chinese will probably be expecting the men to return shortly, which means that we need to move all the faster. Darmala what is the terrain like?"

Darmala got down and started drawing in the dirt with his sword. "Their camp is in a valley just after where the hills begin, there are four hills surrounding them, each with two lookouts." As he spoke he drew circles and X's. "The rest of the men are just milling around outside the tents."

"How big is the valley?" Seguder asked.

"About forty meters."

Dai Sechen had barely glanced at the terrain model before he had already come up with a plan. "Gansukh lead your team in front. All other teams follow in a wedge formation behind them. Those lookouts must be taken out before they can raise an alarm so Gansukh, you and Sansar need to get them as soon as we get over the top. As soon as they see us the surprise is over and I would prefer to be going through their camp when that happens."

"This is an important mission men, it has been a long time since we had a hostage situation, before most of you joined me. I need all of you to get your war faces on." Dai Sechen drew his sword out, a thin blade that slowly curved, and stuck it in the middle of the model. "Let's go and KILL THEM ALL!"

The Elite let out a roar that I feared might be heard by the Chinese. The men started to punch each other shoulders and make bets on who would be able to get more kills. I marveled at the immediate change in attitude as the real enemy was presented. After we settled down I spoke up.

"Sir, may I make a suggestion?" I asked. "Wouldn't it be useful for some sort of distraction? It might just be me but this looks like a suicide."

"Yeah, I managed to sneak two fire pouches from the storage." Holoem pulled a pouch from his belt with a big grin on his face.

"Give me that." Yesurgui grabbed the pouch from Holoem's hand. "You can't be trusted with these."

"Let him use them, but Holoem you will be punished for stealing when we get back and I will not forget." Dai Sechen looked sternly at him. "Use them as we are assaulting the base, and if there is any causality on ours or the hostage's part I will personally castrate you. Temunjin help him."

Holoem's face twisted in pain for a moment, when he was dismissed he turned to me with a bigger grin than before. "You are going to like this; it's crazier than anything you have ever seen."

A leather pouch was dropped in my hand. I opened it up, reached inside and felt inside. It was some type of grounded rock. I pulled my hand out to inspect it further. It was black and kind of sparkly.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Watch." He said as he poured barely a gram onto a piece of torn cloth. He then wadded it up and threw it into the fire. FOOSH! The flame leapt up for an instant, scaring half the camp.

"HOLOEM!" A collective roar resonated around the camp. "Sorry, sorry. I was just testing it. Geesh" He turned to me again. "They need to lighten up a bit, you know."

Personally I was still a little scared of the bag in my hand so I stepped away from the fire. "What in the Earth mother's name is this?"

"It's called black fire. It's a mixture of charcoal, sulfur and nitrate; simply instant fire."

"I noticed." I answered.

"Actually the Chinese invented it, but some alchemists captured from the first campaign showed us how to make it. This," He said holding it out in front of him. "Is my specialty, explosives."

I eyed the bag again. _This is weird_. I wondered what other weird contraptions the Chinese, or the Mongols for that matter, had in their arsenal.

"This is what we need to do. We pour a little oil on these rope segments, just a little." Holoem reached into his coat and pulled out a flask of oil, I managed to get a glimpse of the other items he had strapped to his belt; a large amount of flits, pouches, numerous cutting and grinding tools and other utensils I could not imagine the use for. Tilting the flask at a slight angle he poured the oil onto a segment of rope about four centimeters long, just barely getting it damp.

I followed suit with a stand that he gave me.

"Now put one end into the bag and you would tie it back up tight, but not yet there is one more step. What we do is light the rope, the oil lights and the fire travels down the rope to the black powder. When it gets there, boom! Of course that means that you have to throw it immediately… or else. One guy caught one of these fire pouches; he lost both arms to the elbows and his face was charred."

"What else do we do?" I asked wondering what else Holoem could do to make this more deadly.

After rummaging around his waist, he found what he was looking for. He poured on the ground several small nails and metal shards. "Don't tell Dai Sechen or he'll kill me. These add an extra bit to the bang my throwing these everywhere, think about it. The amount of force that is released from the explosion is stronger than that of an arrow."

"Mount up it's time to go."

The ride to the enemy's camp was different from the last one. You could feel it in the air, the others, as well as myself, felt that rush you get before a battle. During our previous ride we were not going to battle, I honestly don't know what it was; we had the intent to kill our own kin. Now the enemy was not a brother, they were our sworn enemies.

Darmala had said it would only take a few minutes to reach the hills, after that it was only a few hills to the camp. To avoid being seen by the lookouts, we weaved our way through the hills. Thanks to the dew that the morning mist had left on the ground there was no dust cloud to give our position away. Darmala was leading the charge along with Gansukh's team to show the final rise when he would fall back to his own place. The operation was to be quick with any amount of luck they would think we were the men returning till it was too late.

The time was here; I saw Darmala fall back and knew it was time to fight. I watched Gansukh and Sansar let go of their reigns and draw their bows, ready to fire as soon as a target presented itself. Holoem had a pouch and light ready. And everyone else, myself included, sounded a soft chorus of scraping metal. We were going to be out numbered at least four to one.

I reached the bottom of the hill; everything slowed down to where a second seemed like an hour. Gansukh's team was almost at the top. I looked towards his bow ready to see it loosen its arrow. He reached the top his bow pulled as taunt as it would allow, but when he reached the top he did not release; neither did Sansar when he reached the top. The whole team just stopped where they were. In a second the rest of us had followed them up and I saw why the stopped.

Blood. It was everywhere. Bodies were strewn all over the camp. The women and children had been dragged to and fro then slaughtered. A few looked like they tried to run, only to be shot by two or three arrows. And nowhere in sight was a single Chinese soldier, no Tai Lung, just blood.

"What the heck happened?" Yesurgui said, asking the question on everyone's mind. Of coarse we all knew _what_ had happened but the more pressing question was why. We were all lost for words. The only word that came to mind I could not find myself to utter: carnage.

Slowly, we moved into the camp. Yesurgui's and Targutai's team were dispatched to search the surrounding areas to make sure we were not walking into a trap; but the Chinese had left a long time ago. Seguder found the horses track and guessed they had left not five minutes after our scouts left.

"That means they spotted us." Darmala said. "Damn it."

"Not necessarily," Dai Sechen said reassuringly "I know Cao Lin, he is the type of man that would have done this just for the sake of it. No need to blame yourself for something you do not know was your fault."

"What should we do with the bodies?" Targutai asked.

"First check for any that might still be alive, you never know. As for the dead, same as always."

"I looked across a yurt at Dai Sechen. "What do you mean "always", how often does this happen."

Dai Sechen looked confused for a moment, he then started to ride towards me. "Burning bodies is our standard for disposing friend or foe; that is unless more time is available. However, here we do not have much time. The Khan will want us back as soon as possible, that way less people note our absence."

Everyone, including Dai Sechen dismounted and started to make three mounds with the corpses. With the sun now high in the sky, soon the bodies would begin to smell under the heat. As I picked up bodies I looked for Lerht, going solely off a piece of jewelry made it difficult and the chances of me finding her were slim.

I moved from body to body, yurt to yurt. After searching my third yurt I was starting to wonder why I was even doing this; of course she was going to be dead. Who would have escape such a butcher, and the patrols didn't report anything around the camp. Then I saw her. I would not even had know it had I came at a different angle. Lerht had been placed on a cart before she was killed and her head was hanging. The necklace hung in between where hair as a braid, aside from the arrow itself it was as brown as its owner's hair. I looked at Lerht's pale face. _So this is her, I wonder what she was like in life?_ There did not seem to be anything special about her, she looked as common as they came. I would even go as far as to say Shira was more beautiful but now was not the time.

Gently I moved her down the cart so her head was laying flat with her body. I carefully unwove the chord that held her hair in place. I tied it along side the other portion as I carried her to the nearest mound. It felt odd, to have carried both husband and wife, in similar fashion to their graves. Both had died on the same day only hours apart, and I had carried them both. I laid Lerht down on the side of the pile, imagining I had placed her next to her husband. I stayed there for a moment just as I had done earlier that morning. The bodies were all nearly picked up by now so I was not disturbed. I looked at my hands which were covered in blood, though not my own.

"Temunjin." I heard someone shouting to my right; I turned to see Holoem pointing at the tree where a dozen bodies hung from different limbs. "Help me get these down. Poor things, to be killed in such a fashion."

I looked at the corpses, I could not tell what he meant by that last phase but I didn't want to know. I could see enough. A Mongols soul is in the blood, killing one in such a manner that causes them to loose so much blood is desecration. _Chinese filth!_

One by one Holoem would cut a body down. I would catch it and lay it side to be carried by Gansukh to one of the piles. The last body was a young man maybe eleven, no I knew how old he was; I would be kidding myself otherwise. I knew because he had told me how old he was, I even knew when his birth month was; Jebei Bayan, only son of Nakhu Bayan. No doubt he tried to fight them, he was the type of person who would try and fight back. It seemed that he escaped one fate only to be engulfed by another; he had worse luck than me.

I pulled out both portions of the necklace as the piles were set on fire. The sun was setting by now and the red sky reflected the fires in front of me. The glow amplified the crimson world around me, it seemed that everything was that same color and maybe it was.

I put the two pieces together as the flames consumed the bodies of my kin. I remembered what I had told Jebei that night I met him 'I am not your brother', now I understood how wrong I was. It was that same sentiment that kept us Mongols fighting each other for as long as anyone can remember it was exactly the idea that I was now fighting against. The Chinese were not our brothers. Jebei was, in all reality, as close to a brother as I could have. I vowed there and then, as I put the necklace I had been entrusted with around my neck, I would avenge the deaths of Jebei, Lerht and her husband, and every other Mongol woman and child that was slaughtered there. They would all be avenged; they were all my family.

Sixty-five. Sixty-five bodies were burnt that dreadful night. Never had I seen so many dead people in one place. The death toll was heavy on the Mongol people that night. And not a single Chinese paid for their transgressions there. We left before the blazes were even half done, we needed to get back. I turned back once more before going down the hill we had climbed with such enthusiasm. A new will burned within me, one that would last longer that those we had started there. Cao Lin would pay.


	14. Chapter 14: Daily Life

**Chapter 14**

Daily Life

The fires burned around me. The village yurts were set ablaze. Corpses lay strewn on the ground around me, their faces familiar to me. I looked around me to see where the enemy was; I knew they were still there. I turned at the sound of a crash to my right. A wagon's wheels had finally burned through and its contents spilled. As soon as I had turned a cry came from behind me. I turned with my sword raised in time to block a downward slash from my opponent.

He lifted his sword again and tried for my side. I was barely quick enough to block the attack as he continued to strike from different angles. As each blow hammered against my blade I felt my strength give little by little. I was trying to hold me ground but the enemy was pushing me. I looked around and called out for anyone that might be around. I didn't remember seeing any of the Elite but I needed help.

That lapse was my downfall. I stopped paying attention to my opponent and missed his attack. His leg met my rib cage and I was thrown into a nearby yurt. The supports gave away though the fabric held. The yurt's top had caught fire just recently and the flames were still creeping down the side. I thrashed in the cloth that enveloped me, trying to get out before the man came. I managed to get out only to be thrown onto the ground again. The man continued to let me get up just to kick or punch me back down: he was toying with me.

I rolled away from him and slowly got up. I had put just enough distance between the enemy and myself to regain my balance. I looked towards the figure slowly moving towards me. I couldn't see his face. I took a stance again ready for the next attack. I stood my ground, not sure if I would be able to survive another barrage, but I had no other choice.

Closing the gap, the soldier rushed the last few meters between us. I blocked the first strike, and the second. The third came from below; I saw what was happening but wasn't fast enough to stop it. My sword flew from my hand and clattered on the ground. The soldier didn't give me any time to recuperate; the sword came back and dug itself into my flesh. I landed hard on the ground. As I lay there I looked around, all sense of sound lost. Then I saw why Darmala had not come to my aid, his corpse lay on the ground next to mine. Next to him, I couldn't believe my eyes: Shira was there. I was not able to protect her or Darmala.

The soldier stood over me, sword still in hand. I weakly looked up to try and see who he was. I didn't need to though, I knew who it was: it was the rider. He lifted his sword.

I shot up and my head painfully ran into the wooden support next to me. I looked around the dark yurt dimly lit by a dying fire. "It was only a dream." I said aloud. "Thank the Sky father it was just a dream." Everyone else was still asleep. I would hate to have woken anyone.

It had been almost a year since the mission with the Sacaeans. It had been deemed a success by the Council, the five closest generals to the Khan; though the rest of us hesitate to even say it was completed. The Sacaeans and the Bayan tribes had been completely eliminated and the Chinese escaped without a scratch. Since then we had many missions, most of which didn't have anything to do with the Tai Lung. Between missions we lived and acted as regular soldiers: training, eating and sleeping.

I learned overtime that the Elite were more than just a covert operations team. We were protecting all the Mongols. The Tai Lung work behind our lines and amongst our people, we needed to counter then to maintain peace amongst our people. The Mongol tribes were unified under the Khan but every tribe still had reserves with others and then there were still tribes that didn't join out of a dislike for fighting.

"We make sure that the Chinese think we are strong," Dai Sechen explained one day after training. "or at least stronger than we are. That event on the coast we did last week and even the Sacaeans', in both missions the Tai Lung were trying to undermine the unity of the Horde. If the Chinese soldiers and their people see we are fighting amongst ourselves they will think we are weak and they might attack with their whole army. We are not ready to fight them, it must be on our terms."

"We also need to make sure this way of thinking is the same as that of our soldiers. They need to think that we as a people are unified. That's why no one knows what we actually do and most of the soldiers and their families don't even know our team exists."

"What do people think we do?" I asked. "I mean we all live in the same yurt. We train together for the most part and we occasionally leave. How does that go unnoticed?"

"For one it is a big camp. Ulaan Baatar holds over 500,000 mounts and even more people if you count the soldiers and their families. Second those that have realized what you have pointed out think we are just an advanced training group, which isn't exactly a lie."

By now I was an official member of the Elite; the others set a standard of a new member having to complete three missions before being official. Until I got to that point I was the brunt of the jokes and got some of the more displeasing tasks. Though it always seemed that Holoem relieved more than his fair share of such even though he had been in the Elite for 2 years.

During the times in between missions we spent our time training. Since I was the replacement for Munlik, the member the Elite that had been killed the same time I joined the Elite, I needed to be trained as a General type. This meant that I needed to learn the basics of knowledge of every skill in the Elite. To do so I needed to train with different people to hone the separate skills, some of these such as using a sword and bow was a lot easier than learning how to set and disguise one of Seguder's traps.

In a few minutes everyone would be waking up. The sun's light would just be peaking over the hill to the East. It was our custom to wake before the dawn, and usually we trained till it set. Not to say there were days we didn't train. Every about once a week Dai Sechen gave us a free day when we could go about the day doing as we pleased. During these days most of us went to unofficially battle tournaments that were held outside of the camp. The fights were simple duels, one-on-one, teams, even free-for-alls; whatever the participants agree on. Lethal fights were forbidden for obvious reasons, so instead wooden and bamboo weapons were used. This way, the worst that you could get was a bunch of scratches of bruises, maybe a broken bone. Fatalities were rare to say the least and were the result of carelessness much like the War Days.

These tournaments were allowed by the Khan for entertainment was well as a different way for people to train. But for the fighters, it was a competition to find your position in the Horde. The soldiers had a ranking system; the more you battles you win the more you are recognized. Darmala actually was one of the highest ranking soldiers.

"Did you sleep well?" Darmala asked as he got up. "Have I ever said you talk in your sleep?"

"Not really, more like a nightmare." I scratched my head trying to recall anything favorable. "I had that dream again."

"I hope you don't turn out to be an oracle." Holoem said as he rolled out of his bed towards the dying fire. "All these dreams you have of death and destruction. Don't tell me if I ever die in one of them"

"Dreams reflect our thoughts, our hopes and fears." Seguder said his head still on the pillow. "Don't believe any of that foretelling crap about dreams."

Darmala looked at me. "You can't have a private conversation any more can you?"

Yesurgui agreed from the opposite side of the yurt. "Nope."

Since they all lived in the same yurt, the Elite appeared to be a family, a group of orphans that banded together under and older brother. I had become part of that family, along with my brother. And no there was no such thing as privacy; you slept next to another and if he snored than you lived with it, if he smelled you dumped a water bucket on his head. Though all of this neither Darmala nor I ever shared our past, the rest respected our wishes to keep our past a secret.

We had muskrat meat that Seguder and I had caught yesterday; not the best stuff in the world but it was better than mushrooms. One of the training methods that Dai Sechen used was that we had to hunt and gather our own food. This sometimes meant a three or four hour ride to find food. The idea was basically a miniature method of how the soldiers practiced riding in formations. Similar to the War Day these events included almost the whole Horde. The Horde would set off in a certain direction in a half-circle formation. In this bowl they create, they round up all the animals in the area. The goal is to get them all in a circle that will slowly be formed as the Horde moves. For every animal that escapes the circle, a lash is given to the sergeant of that area; in turn the sergeant will punish the troops that let the animal out. When the circle is complete it can span an area kilometers wide. All the animals within were then killed. This served as the food for the next couple weeks.

Today was our day off so everyone was slow to get up. Dai Sechen, of course, left as soon as the sun rose. Though he did not have all the authority of a general he still had several obligations to fulfill throughout the camp. Holoem would probably stay in bed for a few more hours while the rest of us headed to the fights. Darmala and I had a team up against two others around noon so we had a while to watch. We formed a good team and since we were in the same squad it was good practice for Darmala, Yesurgui and me to team up to practice formations and tactics.

The sun was shining outside with a clear sky that morning. "Looks like we will win today." I told Darmala "we have a clear sky."

"Don't be too sure little brother." Darmala punched my shoulder. "The sun shines down on us all. But with your big ego I am sure you'll grab more than the others."

I tried to punch back but Darmala dodged it and used my momentum to throw me to the ground. I managed to catch myself and kicked Darmala's legs out from under him he ended up falling on top of me. The two of us wrestled on the ground for a few minutes before Yesurgui followed us out of the yurt; he towered over us looking even larger from the ground. A grin appeared on his face. Just in time to realize what was happening we scampered out of the way before the behemoth landed his body right where we had been.

"Why does no one ever want to wrestle with me?" Yesurgui said looking falsely dismayed.

Such antics were common amongst us. Pranks and tricks were the main reason that most of us got in trouble for. Yesurgui did manage to fall on Darmala once when he was wrestling with Gansukh. Both were in pain for several weeks and Gansukh had two broken ribs.

Yesurgui got up and joined us in our march over towards the tournament ring. Yesurgui never entered in the tournament; as usual, he was worried that he would hurt someone. You would never guess someone of his size and strength would say that. But that was the way he was, Yesurgui was the gentlest man I ever met and the most calm nearly all of the time. When he did lose his temper like the first day I arrived, it usually took several men to restrain him. This doesn't mean that he was soft, when in battle he unleashed his fury in such a manner I saw people run before he even reached them. Though he never participated in the matches he enjoyed watching them and would often cheer us on.

"You weren't leaving without us were you?" The voice of Holoem reached us before we managed a few steps. Seguder followed him.

"We didn't know that you were conscious" I responded.

"Seguder wouldn't let me sleep. Something about being an important fight for you guys, I still don't see why I couldn't sleep till then."

"You think you would actually wake up?" Seguder asked sarcastically.

The two continued to argue back and forth on whether Holoem would have actually woken up in time. Seguder was one of those quiet types, I didn't blame him either. He left his homeland to join Dai Sechen here. The culture was different as well as the food and most of the others didn't make him feel welcome. If it wasn't that he was under the command of Dai Sechen, one of the Khan's most respected generals, he might have been killed by now.

Holoem was one of those who befriended Seguder right away, though he did so with everyone. He was just that type of guy who was friendly with almost everyone. He saw the state that Seguder was in and welcomed him as a brother and the two bonded as such. Aside from his slight mental instability and lack of maturity he was a nice person to have in a battle, though even in a fight he still was never serious. Together the two of them managed to fit in with the rest of us.

By the time we reached the tournament arena a crowd had already gathered around the ring. The spectators ranged between every age group in Ulaan Baatar. Boys that had finished their morning chores were trying to climb trees or any objects that happened to be around as the young men were pushing for the front view. The arena was a simple dirt area that had been roped off to set the boundaries. To allow for matches with three or four people the arena was rather large, some four to five meters. Which was a little too much if the match is between two people where sometimes one will run around simply tiring the opponent out. We arrived just as a match ended and the crowd erupted in cheers and boos as people lost or won their bets.

"Khitai, Heuyt, Jurge and Liht step forwards." A man shouted from the middle of the arena

Though the matches were organized there was no official sign in place. When your turn came you were called, if you did not show then you lost the match. You "registered" for a fight simply by challenging someone and saying when. There was someone who kept a record of when the fights took place. I never met him but from what I was told he was just another soldier who had gotten the whole thing started.

"Watch this guy, Khitai." Darmala said. "I have seen him fight and it's incredible."

As the four men took their places on the stage I realized that Khitai was fighting against the other three by himself. I personally never went over two opponents and I knew that was Darmala's limit as well. To face against one enemy is as simple as it get. When you and a second enemy the difficulty doubles since you have to divide your attention between two targets. But when a third opponent is added the difficulty is increased significantly.

Khitai was one of the veterans of first war and was among the first few clans to join the Khan. He was an older man, at least in his forties his clothes hung loosely on his frail-looking body and they had probably never been washed. Blood spots were stained all over him from previous battles.

"Hey, Khitai." One of the men taunted. "Are you sure those old bones can keep you standing?"

"Leave him alone, Jurge." Another said. "He needs some time to remember where he put his sword." The comment was not without reason; I couldn't see any weapon on Khitai.

"Enough talk, Heuyt." Khitai said his voice was almost scraping, making him appear all the more frail. "I am sure you can do more than just exercise your mouth."

"Begin." The man on the stage called out.

As soon as the man yelled this, two men, Heuyt and Jurge charged Khitai as the man I took to be Liht stayed back. Khitai just dodged the attacks. The men weren't very skilled and their movements were easy to read. After playing with the two for a while, Khitai started taking jabs at his adversaries. This enraged them further causing them to make more mistakes.

Khitai faked out his two opponents time after time again. At one point the two realized that they could not take him on alone so Liht joined them. The three made a triangle around Khitai and began to close in. Heuyt came from behind attacking first, bringing his sword down. Khitai pulled a wooden scimitar out of nowhere to block the blade than pushed the attacker with a kick to his chest. During this the other two closed in one swinging from the left, the other at an upwards angle. Khitai blocked the side swipe and then forced it to block the second attack and in the same motion dispatching Jurge with a kick in the face with his right foot.

Heuyt was down and Jurge unconscious. Liht picked up his companions' sword and added it to his own, armed with two swords the man started to launch an attack of several attempts to hit Khitai, all resulting in failure. As a final resource, Liht started to increase the strength of his blows and brought both swords down at the same time. Khitai blocked both and in a flash used his left hand to punch the man's face twice, take the sword in is right hand away, than disarmed his other sword with a flick of his own sword.

I watched Khitai as he left them. The three men lay prostrated on the ground and looked like they would be there for a while, luckily for them their friends in the crowd helped them up. As if he had never been there, Khitai left the scene.

"Wow" Was all I could say.

"I told you he was good. We could take those men on but not three at a time." Darmala said.

"Yeah but I never thought that someone could take on three men regardless of their skill."

"I wonder why Dai Sechen never tried to recruit him into the Elite," Seguder wondered. "He is as skilled as Dai Sechen himself if not better."

"I guess he is just too old." Holoem said. "Seriously, ever notice that anyone that has ever joined us is not older than thirty, Khitai has to be at least forty."

Holoem had a point and was being serious for a change. I was about twenty and the rest of the Elite were around the same age. The oldest amongst us was Targutai who was barely twenty-six.

"We're up next." Darmala said.

"Team Elite and Team Wolf." The announcer called.

In the team battle groups usually took names to be easier to identify with. Since the name of our squad was secret we were able to use it for a team name, though that meant that only two of us could use it at a time and since it was my idea Darmala and I used it. Seguder and Holoem team's name was after Seguder's clan in Japan: Kawasaki.

As we got on the stage Darmala briefed me on our enemy. "You know that tribe that you were trying to avoid when we met, The Wolves? Well these guys are from that clan, hence the name."

"So how good are they?" I asked.

"It is rumored that the Khan came from their clan. The Khan claimed them after challenging their leader to a duel."

I had heard of this. An army of Tartars attacked the camp but were defeated with the help of The Wolves. Afterwards the differences between the leader of the Wolves and Genghis Khan came to a head. In the duel the Khan won and now they lived in the camp with the rest of the hundreds of clans.

"So we should get a good practice today?" I asked jokingly.

"Maybe a warm up." Darmala responded.

Our two opponents came onto the platform on the opposite side both were well built. The battle was to be a mock weapon fight so the two had their wooden swords. We drew our own and waited for the 'go'.

"You take the small one Ill get the big one." I said.

"First come first served." Darmala responded

"Begin"

The two men charged at the same time. At the last moment Darmala took a step backwards and sidestepped behind me as I did the same. The change of sides caused the two men we were facing to nearly bump into each other as their targets changed positions. We used the opportunity to launch a counter attack. Side by side, our strikes were almost mirrored each other; it was a sequence of moves we practiced constantly, it was very easily read but the parallel movements made it hard for the opponents to concentrate. Eventually it could be broken but any bit of psychological warfare helps.

The man Darmala was fighting was the first to get out of the pattern, jumping back several feet. At the same time I took the defensive and back off, as planned my opponent started attacking giving Darmala a clear shot to the back of his neck. The attack hit the man and he collapsed on the ground.

His companion saw what had happened and tried to come back and help his friend but was too late. Instead he tried attacking Darmala. As soon as Darmala attacked my man I moved around them to block the attack from the second man. I started to engage the man pushing him back again as Darmala turned back to help me. We took turns attacking; I tried two strikes then would step to the side to allow Darmala a few strikes. We kept the man on the defensive till he was a few feet from the edge. Darmala was up and I tapped him on the shoulder, this was the sign for Darmala to open his guard with a last final upper slash. The attack caused the man's arm to leave his body open. I moved in and struck him in the gut causing him to double over. Darmala then drove his knee into the man's face. Before the man could regain his composure the two of us got on either side of him and kicked him in the chest sending him out of the ring and onto several people who we hoped were his friends. We suddenly began aware of the cheering that had gone unnoticed as Darmala and I fought. It had been the first time that we had tried to use a combination like that before and all the hours of practicing it finally paid off.

"Good job guys," Holoem said as he got off the stage. "That was a really awesome fight." His opinion was shared by the others as Yesurgui gave us both a rather strong pat on the back. Though he did not show it I knew Seguder was equally as jubilant. I happened to glance over at a figure at the edge of the crowd walking away, it was Khitai, he actually had watched our fight. I felt honored that someone at his level would care about a fight I was in.

The rest of the afternoon we spent watching the next several fights, I had come to realize that no matter how many times men see each other getting beaten or killed in battle; we always wanted more. A puzzling truth but one that I felt the pull of as much as the next person. I never considered myself a philosopher, not much action in that field, but these things always seemed to jump out at me. _Man is man,_ I concluded, _and I'm one of them._

After the fights each of us parted ways, even Darmala had to go do something with Yesurgui so I decided to wander around the camp. I took walks like these frequently, there was no exact boundaries between the civilian and military areas so I would weave my way throughout the whole camp. It reminded me of what it meant to be in a clan; I had spent the better part of twenty years alone or with another soul and most of the time that I had spent with a village was either too far back in my memory to recall or too short to mention. Since I was still in the camp I never carried my sword with me, only my bone knife. Not that I thought something would happen but Dai Sechen had trained us all to be ready for anything. On that same note I never felt like carrying my sword, it was just too cumbersome for a simple walk, that and little kids always wanted to play with anything sharp. My route usually would take me into the evening and sometimes I did not manage to get back to the yurt in time for supper.

As it was the evening meal the soldiers were gathered around camp fires exchanging how their day went or what new techniques they had learned. While the younger soldiers bragged about how many wins they had at the tournaments, the veteran soldiers would try and beat each other with tales of battles or anything else they could think up.

"You think that is a pretty scar, eh? It makes a mess of your pretty little face." A voice said, I turned to see none other than Khitai, and he was drunk. "Well take a look at this one, I nearly lost my leg to a Chinese and for it he lost his head." He lifted up his left pant leg revealing a scar that ran down his upper leg. It had not been cleaned and was mostly dead meat just waiting to fall off. I had seen worse, such as someone getting cut open in the same way or even my own leg in similar condition, just tended and mended. I just stood there looking at his drunken grin; he seemed to take the fact that he was not scary as an insult.

"What is your problem, eh?" He drew his scimitar.

I knew I was no match for him drunken or not and all I had on me was a bone weapon; hardly a match for metal. "I do not want to fight you." By this time the small crowd around us had grown considerably and people were gathering bets for who will win.

"Fight, fight, fight." Even though they were prohibited in the camp, one person started to yell, than everyone in the crowd was yelling it. Someone behind me pushed me towards the old man. He used this chance to try and hit me. I jumped back just in time to avoid being split in two. He didn't give me time to draw my weapon, for what good it would have done, and barely any to move. For his age and state he was surprisingly fast, faster than Darmala or even than he showed earlier that day. Though I had faced death before this was far worse, I was not able to use a weapon and I was "fighting" an opponent much more prepared and skilled than I, even if he was drunk.

He swung at my stomach. I jumped back and barely dodged it. Once more I got too close to the wall of people and was shoved into the old man. He grabbed me with his free hand and kneed me in the gut, knocking the air out of me. He than threw me on the ground he circled me and prepared to strike, he was really going to kill me! I was still grasping for breath and couldn't reach for my sword. He raised his sword. I heard the blade swing around his head and come down.

CLASH! Not the sound I was expecting. I opened my eyes and saw two swords in front of my face; one belonging to the old man, and the other to Dai Sechen.

"That is enough, Khitai." He flung the old man's sword back and pinned Khitai against a post with his sword and the man's throat. "My respects to you for saving my life several times but I will not tolerate fights inside the camp, especially a lethal one."

Dai Sechen had brought with him several guards, all in uniform, to help contain the crowd. They were now pushing the people back and trying to establish order. It was an easy task since most of the people were smart enough to realize the foolishness in resisting or that of being caught in such an event. Though one youth tried to resist a guard, he was quickly dispatched and dragged by some of his friends back away from the guards.

"Have I made myself clear?" Dai Sechen asked Khitai, who had dropped his sword and seemed repentant of his wrong doings.

"Yes. Just keep this brat away from here." He spat on the ground and walked away but not before Dai Sechen's guards had removed both his sword.

Dai Sechen turned towards me. "Are you okay?" Some question to ask some one who had just been attacked by a drunken man for no reason.

"I am alive." I answered.

"Please forgive Khitai. Drinking does not do him good; he is supposed to be prohibited from strong drinks. I will have to find out how he got them. You go back to the yurt and get some rest."

With the guards behind him, Dai Sechen followed the way Khitai had taken. I went in the opposite direction and took the long way to the yurt. From then on I always walked with my sword and a hand on the hilt just in case Khitai or any other tried that little ploy again.


	15. Interlude

Due to the vague nature of the miscellaneous section I am moving this story to another web site: fictionpress .com. I am using the same pen name and the story's name hasn't changed either. Sorry for the inconvenience.


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